My Department acts as an Intermediate Body for the BMW Regional Authority Operational Programme (2007 – 2013). One railway infrastructure project, the Elimination of Speed Restrictions at Portarlington, was approved for funding under the Programme in 2010. Total expenditure amounted to approximately €14.2m and the aid rate of 50% facilitated the drawdown of €7.1m in EU Funding.
The DART Underground project was identified as an eligible project under the Trans European Network-Transport (TEN-T) programme in 2008. TEN-T funding of €10m was approved towards geotechnical investigations and various surveys and studies during the initial design and planning stages. A final claim for this Project was recently submitted to the Trans-European Networks Agency. Once approved by the TEN-T Agency, the final claim will release drawdown of the full allocation of approximately €10m from the TEN-T Budget.