Tenders are to be sought in the autumn for the construction of a £2 billion metro line in Dublin, it was announced yesterday.
The line will run from Dublin Airport to the city centre, with a link line to Blanchardstown. It will run on a designated track, similar to the DART service, with carriages capable of transporting an estimated 50,000 people hourly.
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Rail Procurement Agency (RPA), the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs O'Rourke, said that over 30 international consortia had expressed an interest in building the metro.
The RPA, under the chairmanship of a former chief executive of the IDA, Mr Padraic White, has been established as an interim agency, pending the enactment of legislation in the autumn.
Mrs O'Rourke said public transport would undergo a major change in the coming years.
"The RPA will be one of the key agencies to deliver those changes and ensure that the massive investment currently being injected into public transport effects significant improvement in services. It is an exciting but challenging time."