[BluntGuy]

I thought it was about time this massive piece of Infrastructure got its own thread. There is so much to talk about with regard to this project, it's hard to know where to start.

Well the basic overview is (taken and edited from the EIS):

Metro North will connect the Fingal County town of Swords and the townland of Belinstown to Dublin’s City centre. The selected route for the proposed scheme serves a number of key destinations including Dublin Airport.

It will interchange with existing Luas Green Line services at St. Stephen’s Green and Red Line services at O’Connell Street. It will also interchange with DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) and suburban rail services at St. Stephen’s Green (via the proposed rail interconnector) and at Drumcondra following the electrification of the suburban rail line. 2,600 Park & Ride spaces will be provided at key locations along the route so the proposed scheme will benefit people from far beyond its immediate catchment area. The proposed scheme will also have excellent interchange with local and regional bus services, with bus interchange facilities being provided at most stops.

The proposed scheme will have significant reserve capacity to grow to meet Dublin’s long term transport needs. When it opens, the proposed scheme will carry around 80,000 passengers per day. This is forecast to grow significantly over time. The proposed scheme will have an ultimate capacity in excess of 40,000 passengers per hour (20,000 in each direction). This is beyond the capacity of an on-street rail system, but will easily be accommodated on MetroNorth, which can accommodate longer Light Metro Vehicles (LMVs) operating at a higher frequency.

The journey time from Swords to the city centre will be about 26 minutes, less than half the time of the same journey by car at peak rush hour. As with Luas, Metro North passengers will not have to worry about timetables. Peak time services will run every 4 minutes, and more frequently as passenger numbers grow. The proposed scheme is expected to carry some 35 million passengers a year once it is operational.

The vast majority of the route is fully segregated, including the entire route from the city centre to Swords. North of Swords there is one at grade crossing of a public road, and provision for additional crossings which will be integrated into the streetscape of the planned new town centre at Lissenhall. The design caters economically for the forecast passenger flows which are typical of a low to medium density city such as Dublin. Metro North is designed to operate using both a railway type signalling system and a line of sight system.

The proposed scheme will provide a frequent service which will be attractive for relatively short journeys within the urban area, including those which involve changing from other modes at Park & Ride car parks or bus interchanges. The maintenance of close headways to minimise passenger waiting times has been key to the success of Luas and is an important part of the system concept for the proposed scheme. The emphasis is on operating frequent services using trainsets of moderate length rather than long trains at relatively infrequent intervals. Capacity will be increased over time by increasing the peak service frequency progressively from four minutes to two minutes.

The proposed scheme will play a key role in a fully integrated public transport system for Dublin. Integration will include:

- the backbone of an urban network which incorporates the proposed Metro West line and the future integration of Metro and Luas services which will make use of the tunnel section in the future

- provision for transfer to and from domestic and international air services at the Airport

- the location and design of stops to facilitate transfer between metro, light rail, suburban rail, bus services, private car and bicycles together with good access on foot

- full provision in the design of the stops for Integrated multi-modal ticketing

　
You can find the rest of the overview from the EIS here:

Metro North EIS Volume 1

A more detailed overview is provided here.

A 3D simulation of the scheme is provided here (give it a little while to load, it's a 17.9 mb flash movie file).

Having looked through all of the reference designs and oral hearing evidence, I'd be happy to point you to any particular piece of information (e.g station sizes a.k.a - how many ticket machines, location of tunnel bores etc.) if you require it.

A couple of images (mostly taken from John Smith's Architectural Design presentation PDFs which you can find here)

Their picture of a typical LMV:



This shows Dardistown stop. This is indicative of a typical surface level stop. It looks like a high-spec LUAS stop. (note that there are four platforms, to allow for future interchange with... "Metro" West.)



The DCU station entrance looks rather ugly in this picture...



But, their comparison shot of the Porto Metro in Portugal (which is of similar spec) shows it can look rather decent, and there's evidently integration with bus.



The swords stop.



The terminus stop with a car park that crosses over the line.



An escalator!!!!



(What is significant though is the sizing of the escalator - it's to do with amount of machinery required to operate it, and the space taken up).

Anyway, another shot of Porto Metro, to show what we can expect from escalator entrances:



The Metro North level of St.Stephen's Green station (the DART will be underneath this).



The O'Connell Bridge station. I'm guessing this station will be constructed using mining techniques (rather like I presume the Interconnector stations will be).

[etchyed]

Originally Posted by BluntGuy

Most of the time I feel like I get the whole light metro thing, but looking at how pedestrians will use that stop just makes me think, really? A ****ing tram stop? Why, after spending over a billion/billions of euro on an underground tunnel through the heart of the city, would you have tram stops on the outskirts? I know that MN, unlike MW, will be grade separated from roads. But apparently it's not considered as important to separate it from the pedestrians who want to use the bloody thing! How can a train/tram/LRV/whateverthehellitis travel at its optimum speed when it has to cautiously crawl into each stop?

Maybe there are other systems with a similar arrangement that work just fine but this looks VERY incongruous. The picture above just looks plain wrong. There are Luas green line stops that are better equipped.

[sdeire]

Originally Posted by etchyed

Most of the time I feel like I get the whole light metro thing, but looking at how pedestrians will use that stop just makes me think, really? A ****ing tram stop? Why, after spending over a billion/billions of euro on an underground tunnel through the heart of the city, would you have tram stops on the outskirts? I know that MN, unlike MW, will be grade separated from roads. But apparently it's not considered as important to separate it from the pedestrians who want to use the bloody thing! How can a train/tram/LRV/whateverthehellitis travel at its optimum speed when it has to cautiously crawl into each stop?

Maybe there are other systems with a similar arrangement that work just fine but this looks VERY incongruous. The picture above just looks plain wrong. There are Luas green line stops that are better equipped.

In fairness, there are only about five stops the length of the route like this. It's not going to affect the journey time by more than a minute.

My concern is capacity; theres about 20 ticket barriers in the city centre stops which gives an indication that they're expecting huge uptake. If this is the case in Swords etc, a couple of vending machines just won't do. It needs a proper booking office and a footbridge - especially if there's going to be a train in the station every 90-120 seconds at peak.

[munchkin_utd]

Originally Posted by sdonn

In fairness, there are only about five stops the length of the route like this. It's not going to affect the journey time by more than a minute.

My concern is capacity; theres about 20 ticket barriers in the city centre stops which gives an indication that they're expecting huge uptake. If this is the case in Swords etc, a couple of vending machines just won't do. It needs a proper booking office and a footbridge - especially if there's going to be a train in the station every 90-120 seconds at peak.

Maybe this would be a problem.
On the other hand, how many people will be buying cash tickets at peak times?
Most commuters should have weekly or monthly tickets so you shouldnt really need a bank of ticket machines for commuters.

IF the new transport authority manages to make the Dublin transport arrangements into a transport system then you'll also have masses of bus passengers from neighbouring areas connecting to the metro and already in possession of a vaid ticket for the metro that also does them for the bus.

[Typewriter]

Great thread.

It does look like a carbon copy of the Porto metro...

[BluntGuy]

Here's an opinion on Metro North:

http://www.sligochampion.ie/temp/the...n-1934113.html

I'm not sure I totally agree with the project, but surely using his alternative route wouldn't be a good idea. Luas BXD looks very messy.

I have had an opportunity to look at an alternative route to Metro North. I lived for a number of years close to Phibsborough in Dublin and my family live in East Meath so I am familiar with that area. There is an under-used rail line from the new Dockland Railway Station, which is beside the new National Convention Centre at Spencer Dock, to Cabra. This line runs along the Canal End of Croke Park. This line will be used for the new line to Meath. There is also a green belt running up through Finglas. It would be possible to extend the Green Luas Line from St Stephen's Green down Kildare Street and Westland Row to the Liffey. This line could continue towards Cabra, using the line at the Canal End of Croke Park, up through Finglas and on to the airport.

This route would be about 4 miles longer than the straight route proposed for Metro North but could be built for around 20% of the cost. This route would have a journey time from the airport to the city centre of about 33 minutes or 10 minutes longer than Metro North.

[Plowman]

Originally Posted by BluntGuy

Having looked through all of the reference designs and oral hearing evidence, I'd be happy to point you to any particular piece of information (e.g station sizes a.k.a - how many ticket machines, location of tunnel bores etc.) if you require it.

It looks great!

But how will it be integrated with the other rail networks in Dublin - Luas & DART? Will it have a similar gauge as either of these lines, or will it be completely different? Will it be run as another wing of CIE/Iarnród Éireann or Veolia, or will it be given to a third company? It just seems that things could get messy with three separate rail groups operating in a smallish city of ~1 million (according to Wikipedia, the Metro is Porto's only light rail system).

[BluntGuy]

Originally Posted by Plowman

It looks great!

Well that's one thing we can be assured of. I have some issues with the Luas, but aesthetics were never one of them. The stops and rolling stock are very good to look at, I imagine this new "Metro" will be the same.

But how will it be integrated with the other rail networks in Dublin - Luas & DART? Will it have a similar gauge as either of these lines, or will it be completely different?

Metro North will run on the standard international gauge, the one that Luas runs on. That means that the Metro North rolling stock will be able to run on Luas tracks and vice versa. The Luas Green line is actually mostly segregated, and can be upgraded to "Metro" Status. It is possible that they will continue the tunnel and integrate it with the Green Line at some point in the future, hence forming a North-South segregated railway spine, all the way from Bray (with line B2) to north of Swords.

It will not be compatiable with DART rolling stock, as they're on a different guage and require larger tunnels. Connections will be available at two stations, Drumcondra (Dart Line 2) and St.Stephen's Green (Dart Line 1).

Will it be run as another wing of CIE/Iarnród Éireann or Veolia, or will it be given to a third company?

It will be operated by the winning consortium.

It just seems that things could get messy with three separate rail groups operating in a smallish city of ~1 million (according to Wikipedia, the Metro is Porto's only light rail system).

I agree. They should have a single brand, or just class Metro as part of the Luas Light Rail network. I know it's higher spec, but three seperate brands is completely unnecessary.

[Tech3]

Some more photos of the stations proposed in Metro North, these were taken from the Metro North Oral Hearing presentation. There is also forecasted passenger demand on slide 5 of the presentation.


Here is the presentation



O' Connell Bridge stop and shows ticketing gates





Drumcondra stop





The project is currently being looked at by ABP.

Metro North hearings put back to March so public can view changes

TIM O'BRIEN

Tue, Feb 02, 2010

AN BORD Pleanála hearings into Metro North, the proposed underground rail link between St Stephen’s Green and Swords, have been suspended, at least until March.

The suspension is to allow the public and interested parties to review changes to three aspects of the project’s design. The changes cover the Mater hospital, Ballymun and Seatown stops.

The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) said the changes to the hospital stop will include a second entrance, accessed from Eccles Street, within the proposed national paediatric hospital.

The agency said this enabled it to move emergency ventilation fans, part of the station structure and emergency escape routes a further 20m away from the Mater Private hospital.

Changes to the Ballymun and Seatown stops were more minor in nature, but utilised lands not identified in the original environmental impact assessment.

The changes can be viewed on the RPA website and at its officers and at An Bord Pleanála.

The deadline for submissions on the changes is next Monday.

Detailed plans for the scheme first went on display in September 2008. The inquiry also recently heard that compensation claims which go to arbitration may not be settled before Metro North is operational, currently thought to be 2015 at the earliest.

The project is going to be funded through the PPP mechanism and two consortia have been shortlisted.

1. METRO EXPRESS Consortium

John Sisk & Son : Leading Irish construction firm

AIB : Irish bank

Mercury : Irish engineering group which built the Luas electrical systems

Bombardier : Builds trams and locomotives

Macquarie Group : Part of the Australian bank of the same name; owns and runs rail projects around the world

Global Via Infraestructuras (GIV) : Spanish group, already working on M50 upgrade and operator of seven rail networks

Transdev RATP : Combination of London-listed rail and public transport builder and operator Transdev, and Paris Metro operator RATP

FCC : Spanish construction group

Alpine : Austrian-based tunnel-building specialist




2. CELTIC METRO Consortium

Barclay’s Private Equity : Division of British bank Barclay’s

Obrascon Huartes Lain : Spanish construction and engineering group

Mitsui : Japanese engineering and industrial group

Soares da Costa : Portuguese construction and engineering group

Iridium Concesiones de Infraestructuras : Spanish group specialising in road and public transport construction and management

CAF : Spanish builder of trams and trains

MTR : Hong Kong-based rail network operator.

[Son of Stupido]

The metro is designed as a hybrid, that is

1. It has normal metro speed & operates underground in the centre
2. On the outskirts, where frequency and demand are not as great, it can convert to a tram system

The benifits for such a system are seen as

1. Cost effective - a fraction of the normal costs as track and stations are at grade outside the city centre
2. Can integrate with existing tram systems
3. Can have multiple branches feeding into an underground metro 'stem'

However the dublin metro capacity is going to be only 20,000, while conventional metro's are in the region of 40,000.

The capacity issue is probably the most contentious.

On the issue of the Green line upgrade, this was the plan from the start, and the St Stephen's Green tunnels are designed for this (The turning loop rises above the tunnels and don't block them from being extended.

I just wish they would get on and build the bloody thing!

[fresca]

Originally Posted by tech2

The project is going to be funded through the PPP mechanism and two consortia have been shortlisted.

where the hell are the AIB going to get the money to fund this? from the taxpayer? they can hardly squeeze much more out of us?

[etchyed]

Originally Posted by sdonn

It needs a proper booking office and a footbridge

That's really no different to what I said. It just seems wrong to me that these trains will have their own tunnels in the city centre, yet have to wait for pedestrians on the outskirts.

Originally Posted by BluntGuy

Having looked through all of the reference designs and oral hearing evidence, I'd be happy to point you to any particular piece of information (e.g station sizes a.k.a - how many ticket machines, location of tunnel bores etc.) if you require it.

I have a question. Is MN completely separated from traffic once it leaves its tunnels? e.g. does it cross any roads, are there pedestrian crossings etc.

I know it looks like I'm getting a hobby horse on this thing but that Swords stop looks anything but "next generation". It just looks cheap. And it looks like by skimping on the outer stretches of the line we're not getting our money's worth on the extremely expensive tunnels we're building in the centre.

As it stands there are no plans for branch lines. So a slow, cheap, at-grade line through Swords would mean severely under-utilising the capacity of the expensive tunnel south of Ballymun.

[sdeire]

God I really hope there isn't a massive fuss kicked up about this by anyone important. While the LUAS-like stops are far from the stops underground, I for one couldn't bear the thought of it being delayed any longer. North County Dublin needed this line a decade ago.

[etchyed]

Originally Posted by sdonn

God I really hope there isn't a massive fuss kicked up about this by anyone important. While the LUAS-like stops are far from the stops underground, I for one couldn't bear the thought of it being delayed any longer. North County Dublin needed this line a decade ago.

In a strange way I agree with you. I am in favour of this line and I'm in favour of it happening ASAP. But you can't ignore that those stops look awful. And a waste of such an expensive tunnel.

[thebman]

Originally Posted by fresca

where the hell are the AIB going to get the money to fund this? from the taxpayer? they can hardly squeeze much more out of us?

Also the Celtic consortium seems strangly foreign