New and Improved Hazelhatch and Celbridge Station Officially Opened by Minister

Date: 08 May 2009

NEW AND IMPROVED HAZELHATCH AND CELBRIDGE STATION OFFICIALLY OPENED BY MINISTER
Upgraded station latest phase of Kildare Route Project

Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey T.D. arrived by train from Heuston Station today to officially open new facilities at Hazelhatch and Celbridge Station, the latest development in delivering the Kildare Route Project.

Commuters living and working in the vicinity of Hazelhatch and Celbridge can now travel to and from Heuston Station in as little as fifteen minutes. The station will be served by Kildare commuter trains with 25 services per day calling at the station. The delivery of the enlarged station is ahead of schedule, and offers residents and workers in the area a frequent, reliable, speedy and environmentally friendly commute to the city centre. Commuters in Celbridge and Hazelhatch will benefit from enhanced customer facilities at all stations on the Kildare line. The opening was also attended by Cllr. Senan Griffin, Mayor of Kildare County Council.

Hazelhatch and Celbridge station now has a purpose built booking office and ticket hall designed by Iarnród Éireann Architects, it is part of the Kildare Route Project, a key infrastructure development in the Greater Dublin Area, which is funded by the Irish Exchequer, under Transport 21. It is accessible to mobility and sensory impaired customers, and features a new state of the art station building, ticket office, automatic ticket validation machines, ticket vending machines, CCTV and P.A systems, electronic customer information display screens, help points and fire and intruder alarms. The redevelopment also includes a new footbridge and lifts to facilitate mobility impaired commuters. New facilities for train drivers are also provided in the new station building. The old station building dates back to the opening of the Great Southern & Western Railway in 1846. It closed in 1963 and reopened as Hazelhatch and Celbridge in 1994. The original station building was unused in recent years but has been re-opened as a waiting room and several of its original architectural internal and external features have been maintained. The Station complex also includes a 397 space Park and Ride facility, benefiting commuters in west Dublin and North Kildare, who wish to access the city centre, quickly and efficiently. Commuting time to and from Heuston on the Intercity trains is now 15 minutes non-stop, and 23 minutes for Commuter services stopping at Adamstown, Clondalkin Fonthill and Parkwest. The new Kishoge station, located between Adamstown and Clondalkin Fonthill, is due to open in 2010.

Service Expansion
Kildare Route Project
The Kildare Route Project is a major investment project, which will provide additional track capacity and offer the opportunity to more than treble capacity for commuters on the commuter lines into Heuston Station, with the potential to generate up to 7 million additional passenger journeys on the route annually. This will benefit communities in West Dublin and Kildare, as well as longer distance commuters from towns such as Portlaoise, Carlow and Athlone.

The Kildare Route Project will achieve these benefits through four-tracking the line from Cherry Orchard to the 10.5 milepost West of Hazelhatch, providing two dedicated lines for commuter services and two dedicated lines for Intercity and regional services. The Kildare Route Project is funded through the government's transport investment programme, Transport 21 and is scheduled for completion in early 2010.

DART Underground - Dublin's Interconnector
Following the completion of the Kildare Route Project, Iarnród Éireann will then develop the DART Underground, - a second high-capacity DART line running underground from Inchicore to Heuston, Christchurch, St Stephen's Green, Pearse, Docklands and the Northside DART line.

With the development of the Underground DART Interconnector by 2015, Hazelhatch and Celbridge commuters will be able to travel directly to the heart of the city centre and interchange with all modes - DART, Commuter, Luas and Metro - and Hazelhatch and Celbridge services will be upgraded to DART.

Speaking at the launch of Celbridge and Hazelhatch Station, CIÉ and Iarnród Éireann Chairman Dr John Lynch said "Iarnród Éireann has become the fastest growing railway in Europe by ensuring it serves the growing needs of commuters and communities. The Kildare Route Project will deliver a frequent, efficient and environmentally friendly rail service to one of the fastest growing population corridors in the country"

Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey TD said: "This new station and enlarged car parking facility will be very welcome news for commuters in North Kildare and west Dublin. This station, delivered ahead of schedule, will offer locals a frequent, reliable, fast and environmentally friendly commute. Even in these times of particular economic constraint this Government is continuing to invest heavily in better public transport facilities. Our investment today will help future proof our national rail network and that will put us in a strong position to take maximum advantage of the economic upturn when it comes."

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Iarnród Éireann