Preliminary Business Case
Station Accessibility Programme
Heavy Rail Safety and Development
The Station Accessibility Programme has been developed by Iarnród Éireann to ensure that stations across the Irish rail network comply with statutory accessibility requirements, and meet EU, national and IÉ standards for accessible design.
Introduction The Preliminary Business Case
This document forms the Preliminary Business Case (PBC) for the Iarnród Éireann (IÉ) Station Accessibility Programme, assessing options the whole programme as well as more detailed consideration of activities in the first five years of the programme. This is the next stage of the appraisal plan initially set out in the programme’s Strategic Assessment Report (SAR).
The aim of the Station Accessibility Programme is to upgrade stations on the IÉ network to meet European Union (EU), national and IÉ standards for accessible design. Since the late 1990s, substantial improvements have already been delivered, meaning that almost two thirds of stations meet accessibility standards, leaving just over 50 stations still requiring further improvement. Works required at the remaining stations are to be delivered through a series of multi-annual funding packages, where the stations included are based on a prioritisation process and stakeholder input; the first 5-year period is 2022-2026.
The PBC is the first stage of the project lifecycle (Approval Gate 1) set out in the Project Lifecycle Approval Stages of the Infrastructure Guidelines (IG)23. This takes forward the appraisal process set out in the Station Accessibility Programme SAR, updating the approach to accommodate changes to project appraisal guidance in the Transport Appraisal Framework (TAF).24 Similarly, the approach has evolved to include requirements enshrined in the Infrastructure Guidelines (which replaced the previous Public Spending Code in December 2023) and revised NTA Project Approval Guidelines (PAG), which were updated in March 2024.
The PBC brings together evidence to support the contention that Approval Gate 1 Approval in Principle should be granted and forms the basis upon which the Approving Authority can make decisions to progress to subsequent stages and ultimately sanction implementation at individual stations.
