Letter in Today's Irish Times - Plans for Metro North
 

Sir,

I wish to address some of the points made by John Stafford in relation to the Metro North project (July 29th).
The fact is that the National Transport Authority is absolutely right to continue to stress the importance of the Metro North and DART Underground projects as the only lasting solution to Dublin’s traffic congestion problems.
Congestion is one of the main urban transportation problems faced by almost all cities and incurs significant costs in terms of wasted time, wasted fuel, lost productivity and high accident rates.
In its report Smarter Cities for Smarter Growth, IBM estimated the annual cost of Dublin city’s traffic congestion to be €4 billion in 2008. Congestion also makes Dublin less attractive for vital inward investment.
The business case for Metro North, which has been independently audited, demonstrates it delivers a net benefit to the Irish economy of well over €1 billion per annum.
Mr Stafford dismisses the passenger forecast as “a mere 34 million”. In fact, this level of patronage will make Metro North the busiest railway line in Ireland by some margin, outstripping the existing hugely successful Luas and DART lines. One only has to look at the destinations being served to understand the importance of Metro North: the high density population centres at Swords, Ballymun and Northwood; four major hospitals; two universities; Croke Park and the retail and business districts in the heart of Dublin’s city centre as well as Dublin airport.
These are all major destinations which generate high levels of transport demand.
Mr Stafford assumes the fares will be set at a high level in order to repay the cost of building the project. This is not the case, and fares on Metro will be similar to those on the rest of the public transport network. – Yours, etc,
TOM MANNING,
Public Relations Manager,
Railway Procurement Agency,
Parkgate Business Centre,
Parkgate Street, Dublin 8.

Articles Irish Indo
 

3 more articles in Saturday's Irish Indo - to be fair the reporting was...

1 - Imbalanced
2 - Unbalanced
3 - Nonbalanced

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...t-2841519.html

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...t-2841505.html

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...t-2841516.html

Add inaccurate as well

Ever since I was in the Indo, I've never read it or taken any account of anything in it.

Metro North and Dart Underground 'deferred'
 

Article Irish Times Today -

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...302301839.html

FRANK McDONALD, Environment Editor

METRO NORTH and Dart Underground are to be dropped by the Government next month following a comprehensive review by Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar of “big ticket” transport projects.

According to well-placed sources, the two schemes will be “deferred” indefinitely on the basis that neither can be funded in the current climate, even under public-private partnership (PPP) arrangements.

Even though construction costs are considerably lower than they were during the boom and estimates for Metro North were a closely guarded secret, it is believed the scheme would cost at least €3 billion.

Given that Dart Underground – billed as the “missing link” that would transform Dublin’s disparate suburban rail services into a network – was likely to cost €2 billion, the combined total would be €5 billion-plus.

For political reasons, the term “deferred” will be used, rather than “abandoned” or “cancelled”, with Mr Varadkar holding out hope that both could be built when economic conditions improve.

CIÉ’s proposal for a rail spur to Dublin airport from the Dart line at Clongriffin in north Dublin is also widely seen as a non-runner. “It’s a daft idea and the cost would be enormous,” one source said.

But the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) is optimistic that the Government will go ahead with plans for a city centre link between the existing Luas lines, with a spur to Broombridge on the Maynooth line.

The link, known as Luas Line BXD, has already been the subject of an oral hearing by An Bord Pleanála and the board’s approval for a railway order to facilitate its construction could be issued as early as next month.

It would run from St Stephen’s Green via Dawson Street, Nassau Street, lower Grafton Street, College Green, Westmoreland Street, O’Connell Street and then on to Broombridge on a currently disused rail line.

The line would be split in the city centre, with southbound trams running via Marlborough Street across a new bridge to Hawkins Street and College Street before rejoining the main route in College Green.

“If there are no further cutbacks, BXD would fit within the reduced capital spending envelope for transport projects, primarily because of its affordability,” an RPA source told The Irish Times yesterday.

“The Government is keen to stimulate the engineering sector and BXD could be done from its own resources. But the bigger capital projects [Metro North and Dart Underground] will have to be deferred,” he said.

Another source said PPP projects for the metro and Dart schemes would involve “crazy money” to service the debt. Interest rates would be “prohibitive”, especially with the financial markets in turmoil now.

This is recognised by the final two bidders for the Metro North PPP, the Celtic Metro Group, which includes Mitsui and Barclays Private Equity, and Metro Express, which includes Bombardier and Macquarie.

RPA chief executive Frank Allen, whose term of office was due to end this month, has had his contract extended for a further year, pending the agency’s proposed merger with the National Roads Authority.

The RPA has spent nearly €200 million on preparatory work for Metro North, which would run from St Stephen’s Green to Swords, via Dublin airport. The project was finally approved by An Bord Pleanála last October

Jesus.. what a great county. Lets bail out the bankers and builders but no proper transport network for Dublin and this plan goes back in different forms to the original DART plan of the 1970s.

If this doesn't get build, I'm leaving the country. And everyone's going to vote for Gaybo.. what a place..

At least they seem to have seen through the farcical Clongriffin to Dublin Airport proposal.

Going ahead with BXD and onwards might well be the right decision given the strong LUAS performance to date.

Yes that is true of course, minimum link up the Luas links and extend to Broombridge

If the worse comes to the worse, at least resignal the Maynooth Line fully, remove level crossings and build the new stations required..

100% agreement, pelletstown should be done as soon as possible!

I have the feeling we are going to see a Maynooth line DART service once the resignalling/level crossings aspect is done, helped by the City Centre resignalling, the "clockface" DART tidy-up introduced last year coupled with the tidy-up of Maynooth/M3 services expected later this year, more because of efficiency rather than service improvement, who knows!.......

I live in hope.. even the DARTification of the line with new rolling stock and a depot in Maynooth would be the best fallback scenario..

The games have started it appears http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/...w&news_id=1180

Does anyone else find it incredibly bizarre that there will be 3 DART lines (if this suggestion was to proceed) operating to Northside areas that are so close to each other?

http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/...w&news_id=1180

map: http://www.irishrail.ie/images/uploa...rport_link.pdf

Two important parts to note on why the DU/Maynooth/Northern line electrification and Metro North was

http://www.communityvoice.ie/pages/CV164/CV164n12.htm

The thing is, the DART Airport spur doesn't make sense without DART Underground.

Between the capacity problems at Connolly and it's failure to integrate with LUAS Green Line and Heuston InterCity, it loses almost every advantage it has.

From Marks Link:

Flights start at DUB between 5.30 - 6.00 and arrive up to 02.00. (some after that).

Dart needs to start at 03.45 (every 25-30 mins until 5.00) and it should run until 02.00 at least in summer.

Personally it should be 24 hours, train every 30 - 45 mins between Midnight - 5.00am.

6.00 - 7.00 is the bussiest time of the day at the airport and with a DART not starting until 5.00 nobody travling between 6.00 - 7.00 can use the service.

http://www.communityvoice.ie/pages/CV164/CV164n12.htm... and RPA board member.

http://www.rpa.ie/en/rpa/about/Pages/boardmembers.aspx

The draft schedule has longer opening hours than the comparable Heathrow Express in London. It is still a dream

Typical
 

Oh God, this is typical of the Irish Government. After all the planning, discussion and promises they just shelve it. I thought they had already started the work on the Metro line. I definitely thought they would go ahead and build it no matter what, even if meant borrowing heavily to fund it. Oh well I suppose I should have expected they would deal with it in this way. Basically go with a cheaper, worse solution that seems to resolve the problem in the short term, but really is just a poor excuse for a solution. The metro would have been a really useful service and they kind of service that almost every other country in Europe has to transport people form the airport to the city centre.

Proposed DART link to airport would cost €200m
 

Uncertainty over Dublin transport projects
 

No funds for Metro North plan
 

If Dessie Ellis is worried about jobs from Metro North, we should not use TBMs but rather navvies.

Metro North gets final Bord Pleanála go-ahead
 

on RTE news website...

Metro North has been given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála despite doubts about the future of the project

Metro North has been given the final go-ahead despite doubts about the future of the project.

The Rail Procurement Agency was given permission for a 16.5-km track from St Stephen's Green to Swords last October.

But An Bord Pleanála had shortened the proposed route and asked that the rail depot be moved from Belinstown north of Swords to Dardistown south of Dublin Airport.

Today the board approved revised plans which would also involve permission for acquisition of lands.

Two plots are occupied by sports clubs Na Fianna and Whitehall Rangers. There is also land owned by Fingal County Council used as an aircraft viewing area and land belonging to the Dublin Airport Authority.

The permission will last for 10 years meaning these lands and others along the route cannot be developed by anyone else in the meantime.

It is reported that Transport Minister Leo Varadkar will announce before the end of the year the postponement of both Metro North and the Underground DART - the combined cost is estimated at €5 billion.

But the Rail Procurement Agency is reported to have already spent €200 million on the Metro project and is now due to select a winning bid to build and operate Metro North from two competing consortiums Celtic Metro and Metro Express.

It is also understood the successful company would be entitled to compensation if the project is deferred.

Mr Varadkar recently announced that the Metro West project would not be going through the planning process.

Sensationalism. While there may be special arrangements in place to keep them sweet, there is no entitlement to compensation for tenderers.

Indeed we always retain the right not to accept any offer at all.