Contract signed for Rail Link project in Carlow town
Noel
A COUPLE of signatures have definitively moved the Carlow Town Rail Link Project along to the next stage of realisation. GLAS Civil Engineering Ltd, a company based near Clonmel in Co Tipperary, signed the contract with staff from Carlow Co Council on Tuesday 20 January at council offices.
Coilín O’Reilly, chief executive of Carlow Co Council, said he was “absolutely thrilled” to have the project up and running. He described it as “invigorating” that the contractors will soon be on site and begin work on the pedestrian access from the train station through the grounds of St Leo’s College, into Carlow College and from there to the town centre.
Cathaoirleach of the council cllr Ken Murnane said the rail link project “has been on the table for quite a while,” but that it was “really positive” to now have the contract signed.
The construction of the rail link walkway will take six months to a year to complete, but Mr O’Reilly said there should be very little disruption to traffic in the area, as the work is going to be mostly on-site.
The budget remains €2.9m for the rail link, a year-and-a-half after it was approved by the council.
“The budget is always tight and construction inflation continues to grow but we'll be able to deliver it on budget,” confirmed Mr O’Reilly.
“This is the first step of the regeneration of Carlow town centre ... we’ll be going to tender with the rest of town centre scheme soon,” he noted.
In January, the chief executive’s report to the council said that the design process was ongoing for the town centre regeneration project funded by a capital grant of nearly €20m and that the tender for the work would be advertised in the first half of this year. It noted the wall for the Barrack Street link is due to be completed in the coming weeks.
Cllr Murnane noted “members are constantly being told there will be shovels in the ground this year” and that the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund will be a “game changer” for Carlow town centre.
