Quote:
Originally Posted by ofjames
how come the projected costing of the navan line is so high?
is there a particular reason for it or is that par for the course these days for a heavy rail build
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Partly down to a vicious circle. The delivery date is 2015, so they are quoting 2015 prices as opposed to the current day prices which are about four and a half, or €130k less than the headline grabbing figure
The 2015 price of course makes it appear more expensive than heretofore expected but when you strip out the build inflation cost for the next 8 years then the figure isn't higher than expected by anyone.
There was no surprise in the cost, it was expected and known by IÉ and the DOT that this was what it would cost.
But the longer you wait, the longer it costs. Exactly ten years ago, IÉ carried out a report on the entire Navan Line (Clonsilla to Navan, none of your phases one to Dunboyne and two from Dunboyne to Navan).
Then, IÉ costed the entire line at £90m or so. But they didn't move on it then, and of course it was never going to get cheaper over time
To quote Pat Kenny, there is never a cheaper time to build things than now as the cost of infrastructure just keeps going up
There is a seriously severe whack of building inflation in that cost, especially if you compare it to the 1998 figure