19-12-2005, 13:56
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#2
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T21 - JOCT Metro Debate
Dublin Metro System: Presentation.
JOINT COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORT
http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate...xml&Node=H2#H2
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Mr. Rory O’Connor: With regard to capacity of Luas versus metro, we considered a Luas route to Swords and its capacity capability. The capacity of the Luas system is limited to between 10,000 and 11,000 passengers per hour due to constraints in crossing road junctions and so on. That would be sufficient for the Dublin Airport-Swords corridor for a number of years but, ultimately, a higher capacity would be needed. The metro would be capable of being extended to carry 20,000 passengers per hour per direction. To put the matter in context, following enhancement, the DART now carries 11,000 passengers per hour whereas the metro would carry almost twice that number. This would involve 90 metre trains, for which we propose the infrastructure should be developed. However, the service would begin with shorter trains to meet the existing level of demand.
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Deputy Shortall: Information Zoom What about Ballymun?
Mr. Allen: Our proposal includes an elevated station at Ballymun. The precise location and specifications are to be refined. It is a question of cost and it is considerably less expensive to have an elevated station there rather than to continue to tunnel to a point north of Ballymun.
Mr. O’Connor: It is worth pointing out that the World Bank did a report in 2000 which compared the cost of metros around the world. It concluded that one of the dominant factors in the cost of metro projects is vertical alignment. If one examines the difference between at grade, elevated and underground, if an at grade metro costs €1, an elevated will cost €2 and an underground will cost €5 or €6. It is a considerable difference.
Deputy Shortall: Information Zoom Does the RPA accept the point that a major new town will be built there? It simply does not make sense to run either an at ground or an elevated train through the main street. When we were in Madrid we were shown areas where a ground level train service had previously run until a decision was made to invest in making the service underground. It opened up new civic space. A large amount of money is spent on creating acceptable and environmental civil spaces in the new Ballymun town. It seems outrageous to consider running a train through the main street.
Mr. Allen: If one examines Madrid, on the three lines that run through Madrid, in areas of a similar distance from the city centre as Ballymun the stations are elevated. When we went through the line with Professor Melis he strongly endorsed that approach. If one examines how it compares internationally, I can think of many examples where, for obvious reasons, a tunnel runs through the city centre but outside of that is it at grade or elevated. I understand that some people view a railway line as creating a division between one side and the other. That is a consideration on a segregated line. On lines that are not segregated it tends to bring the two sides on the line together. People argue about the merits of light rail versus those of a metro. A metro gives high capacity with a degree of segregation. Light rail has less capacity with a degree of integration. The outline business case has not finalised the precise locations of all of the stops, however, the tunnel portal is south of Ballymun.
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full debate on website
Last edited by ThomasS : 19-12-2005 at 14:01.
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