MetroLink (Dublin)

Photomontage of proposed metro tunneling on O' Connell Street (looking north).

The Dublin Metro (Irish: Metro Baile Átha Cliath) is a planned metro system for the city of Dublin. The first two lines were set out in the Irish Government's 2005 Transport 21 transport plan.

A 'Light Metro' plan was adopted because such systems are also in use in other European cities of similar size to Dublin (e.g. Porto, Portugal), and also because construction costs are expected to be lower with this option.

So far, two lines have been planned, which will mainly serve the North and West of the city (The Luas system serves the South and the DART system serves the East).

One line is to go from St. Stephen's Green to the airport and on to Swords. The second line is to split off the first one just south of the airport, and from there pass through Blanchardstown, Liffey Valley, and Clondalkin before joining the Red Line of the Luas to continue towards Tallaght. Some stations will be underground (mainly in the City Centre) while the rest will be either above ground or at ground level.

The line will connect at stations with the Luas and probably the DART.

Proposed Timeline

2010 - Metro West Phase 1 (Tallaght to Clondalkin).
2011 - Metro West Phase 2 (Clondalkin to Lucan).
2012 - Metro North.
2012 - Metro West Phase 3 (Lucan to Blanchardstown).
2014 - Metro West Phase 4 (Blanchardstown to Ballymun).

Need for a Metro

File:Metro o-connell 2.jpg

Cross-section photomontage of Dublin Metro station view on O' Connell Street (looking south).

A medium-capacity public-transport link to Dublin Airport has been identified as one of the most important gaps in the Dublin network, by the RPA. Dublin Airport currently carries ca. 20 million passengers per year, a figure which according to some estimates may grow to 30 million by 2015, but the airport has no rail link to the city.

A metro system was chosen as the preferred option for airport access over a much cheaper alternative Iarnród Éireann-proposed solution based on a new airport spur from the existing DART line. Although not confirmed, it is believed that the metro will be fully segregated from all traffic which will mean it will not disrupt traffic when in operation, unlike an on-street Luas Tram or the DART. The Metro North will also bring rail access to areas and institutions currently lacking it, such as the Mater Hospital, Drumcondra (Croke Park stop), Dublin City University, Ballymun and Swords.

The population of Greater Dublin, which was 1,661,185 at the time of the 2006 census, is expected to reach 2,000,000 by 2021.

According to the Government's Railway Procurement Agency, Metro North has the potential to eliminate up to 41,000 car journeys per day from Dublin's congested road network and should be able to serve the Airport with a 17 minute journey to the city centre and Swords with a 26 minute journey. It is also expected to carry around 95,000 passengers a day (around 34 million a year), similar to current DART passenger numbers.

Metro West is expected to carry around 20 million passengers annually, or around 55,000 a day.

Trams will normally run every 4 minutes, though at peak times (rush hours), they will be able to run at 90-second intervals.[1]

The proposed Light Metro system should provide room for expansion. Stations are supposedly to be built to accommodate longer carriages and more frequent trains in the future.

METRO North

Metro North (Irish: An Metro Thuaidh) was the original Heavy Metro plan; and was actually meant to be an extension of the DART before the Light Metro option was chosen.

After a study of the Metro North project, the Railway Procurement Agency selected what was known as the 'East/Central Combined Route', running from St Stephen’s Green to Lissenhall, with stops at O’Connell Bridge, Parnell Square (possible stop), Mater Hospital, Drumcondra, Griffith Avenue, Dublin City University, Ballymun, Santry Demense, Metropark, Dublin Airport, Nevinstown, Swords, and Seatown.

The route was officially announced on 19 October 2006. [2]

The metro line will begin at an underground station in St. Stephen’s Green in the city centre. It will continue north and run underground through a 7km-long tunnel (4.4 miles). It will emerge from this tunnel just south of Dublin City University. From there it will be cut and cover through Ballymun and under the M50. The route will change back into a deep bore tunnel north of Metropark, and will travel through the 1.5km-long-tunnel, with an underground station at Dublin Airport. North of the airport, the route will emerge from the tunnel and travel on an elevated structure towards Swords, finally terminating at ground level at Lissenhall. The total route length will be 17km (10.6 miles), of which 8.5km, or 5.3 miles (50℅), will be deep bore through 2 separate tunnels. On 22 March 2007 the Railway Procurement Agency began the procurement process for the Metro North project. The results are expected in summer 2007.[3]

Concerns Over Location of Airport Station

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce has expressed its concern over the location of the Dublin Airport Station on the Metro North route ^[1]. According the the Chamber of Commerce, at this stage the RPA's favoured option was a station at the Great Southern Hotel which is 700 metres from the Airport Terminal. This option was devised on the basis that it would be almost equidistant between the current terminal and the site of the planned Terminal 2. The RPA had proposed a covered travelator linking the station to the terminals. The Chamber of Commerce do not support this proposal. They said, "unless the more costly underground option [of tunnelling under the terminal] is developed, the massive economic and social benefits the project promises to deliver to the country over the coming decades will be put at risk." The location of the Metro stop may also pose a problem for users of the system who wish to access the proposed Terminal 3 to the west, which is part of the overall future development of the Airport.

In the announcement of the proposed route on 19th October 2006 however, it was confirmed that the Light Metro station serving Dublin airport will not be located at the Great Southern Hotel. The exact location has yet to be finalised, however it will be located much closer to Terminal 1 and the proposed Terminal 2 than previously planned. See this Public Consultation Newsletter.

DCU/Ballymun Track

On 20 April, 2007 it was reported (on RTÉ News) that the decision to have elevated tracks between DCU (where the underground track ends) and the airport (where it goes underground again) have be scrapped due to many complaints about noise and visual pollution that this would bring. It is now thought that the underground track may have to go all the way from Stephen's Green to the northern side of the airport, and surface somewhere over there.[4] However, this has not been confirmed by the RPA.

All twenty residents associations in the Whitehall, Glasnevin and Ballymun areas had campaigned for the cut and cover option (which creates the least long-term obstruction) as the deep-bore tunnel had not been given as an option on the RPA public consultation open days. For a while, the RPA seemed to be ignoring the unanimity of the resident's decision and said that they were still open to all options, they have since decided to agree with the residents association's decision [5].

METRO West

On 22 November, 2006, Transport Minister, Martin Cullen announced two possible routes for the METRO West (Irish: An Metro Thiar) line.

The route will use 28 kilometres (17.5 miles) of track and carry around 20 million passengers a year; it is scheduled to be completed by 2014. However, METRO West will run entirely overground, with no underground sections whatsoever. [6]

The route will serve the large suburbs of Tallaght, Clondalkin, Lucan and Blanchardstown. It is also expected to run quite close to The Square, Liffey Valley Shopping Centre, Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, Blanchardstown Institute of Technology and Dublin Airport. It will also connect (or at least run close to) with the Kildare and Maynooth lines of the Dublin Suburban Rail system and the Red Line of the Luas system as well as the planned Citywest (A1) line of the Luas system.

Not Fully Segregated

Although the Metro West is currently is the early planning stages and can change at a later stage, it appears that the Metro West will not be fully segregated from Road traffic, unlike the Metro North proposal. Maps of the planned line can be found here.

Integration

According to the various operators in Dublin, all transport modes will integrate but there are fears that the systems may not integrate ideally. Even though station plans have not yet been fully detailed, draft plans seem to show that metro stations will not actually be built into existing stations, but rather be situated near existing stations. As nothing has yet been built, there is no immediate problem.

There also seems to be an unwillingness between transport operators to devise an integrated ticketing system ^[2]. The RPA is charged with implementing the "Integrated Ticketing System" in Dublin, but as of yet, not much progress has been made. Despite the fact that all of Dublin's transport operators use physically identical paper tickets, the RPA insists on the development of a universal smart card before the integrated ticketing system is implemented. To date, only Luas has introduced a Smart Card (and also private operator Morton's). Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann plan to introduce separate Smart Cards in the near future. The challenge for the RPA will be to get all operators to integrate their ticketing services.

These issues need to be addressed if Transport 21 is to succeed and the Government's message of "integration is key" is to become a reality.

References

^ RTÉ News (July 10 2006), Warning on metro airport location
^ The Sunday Times (February 19 2006), Ticket plan stalled by transport feud

External links

[1] RTÉ News (July 10 2006), Warning on metro airport location

[2] The Sunday Times (February 19 2006), Ticket plan stalled by transport feud

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