€800m Ceannt Station revamp is derailed by the recession

Date Published: 09-Jan-2012

By Dara Bradley

The planned €800 million regeneration of Ceannt Station in Galway City has been derailed by the economic recession, an official from the National Transport Authority (NTA) admitted last night.

“The redevelopment of Ceannt Station has fallen victim to the downturn,” said Mr Ger Bane of NTA, who gave a presentation to Galway City Councillors reviewing public transport in the city.

Another NTA official Mr Hugh Creegan said Ceannt Station as a transport hub, “makes a lot of sense” but there is no money available to follow through on the proposals.

“Plans envisaged for three years ago for Ceannt Station could not be afforded now,” said Mr Creegan.

It was originally planned that the first phase of the development, stretching from Eyre Square to Lough Atalia Road, was the ‘front-loading’ of a new bus and train station with new platforms, waiting facilities, bars and restaurants. Other elements include retail space, up to 200 residential units, office space and cultural and civic amenities.

Because the revamp “has fallen victim to the downturn”, said Mr Bane, in the short to medium term, improvements need to be made to the existing Ceannt Station, including better availability of train timetables and platform information. There needs to be better marketing and information of the services at Ceannt Station, he said.

The redevelopment was not contained in the official review documentation given to Councillors and its demise was only mentioned in passing by Mr Bane. This is despite the brief for the review being an “outline of their overall plans for public transport in the city”.

City Councillor Catherine Connolly (Ind) said the NTA was ‘pussyfooting’ around with buses while the review before them made no reference to Ceannt Station. “What has happened to the development of Ceannt Station as a regional hub for public transport? What has happened to the development of the Docks,” asked Cllr Connolly.

Later, Cllr Tom Costello (Lab) appealed to the NTA to publish the plans for Ceannt Station’s redevelopment as a jewel in the crown and ‘transport hub’ for the region. It should be a priority but inexplicably was omitted from the review before the Council, he said. At this point Mr Creegan cited financial constraints prohibiting progress on the revamp.

Meanwhile, better marketing and information was cited as vital for the bus service, too. To this end, Mr Bane said, the city’s bus services are moving with the times – he confirmed that the roll-out of ‘real-time’ service information signs at bus stops in Galway will occur this year.

Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel