Does Dublin really need a metro?

Winters

Expanding the Luas LRT system throughout Dublin would create a more integrated means of travel. However, questions are already being asked as to whether the Luas can achieve the capacity requirements of the capital city.

RicardoSmith

Oops meant to poll yes not not DOH! Yeah the luas hasn't a hope of meeting the demand put on it. Of course we couldn't afford a metro but thats a different issue.

Third_Echelon

yeah totally agree.... the country couldnt afford it but it is necessary....

imagine the amount of traffic it would reduce... take a city such as New York... it still has insane traffic, but it flows pretty well.. simply because the public transport systems are brilliant and run like clockwork 99% of the time.... the buses are on time and the subway is fantastic and cheap enough as well... only $17 for a weekly ticket... its probably gone up since i was last there though, but id pay €20 for a weekly ticket no probs for a similar system in dublin

you take a lot of people on the underground it would be a great relief on the roads... i know that id use it if it cut down on insane traffic queues such as the M50 carpark...

thats my tuppence worth....

sligoliner

We don't need the Metro - it's a political buzz word that will just dump poeple into O'Connell Street. We can, as proposed by Platform11, maximise the exsisting heavy rail network by utilising the Phoenix Park tunnel and building a large station at Spencer Dock and intermediate stations at Islandbridge, Cabra, Phibs and with a heavy rail connection to the Airport via Clonsilla we can go a huge way to solving many of our Dublin and Naitonal transport problems and all for about one quarter the price of the Metro.

LUAS should be used as feeder network (along with the buses) into the heavy rail network. Not every city in Europe has a Metro. It is being pushed by the vested interests behind it and it will cause massive disruption to the life of the city (just looks at Whitehall).

flav0rflav

Mars or Snickers?

I mean, it's not a black/white issue.

sceptre

Part of the trouble is that most other European cities had the bulk of their metro service built using the cut and cover method. One of the big exceptions in London is the Jubilee Line extension and they didn't call that the last great engineering feat of the 20th century for no reason (obviously it went under the river but except for the airport line any underground metro development in Dublin will have to do likewise).

Prague is one of the few European cities that has had a metro built in recent times from scratch (1970s). The cut and cover method was used more often than the casual traveller might think (it does run under the main boulevards where possible and that isn't by accident) and there's the "engineered by the Russians, built using Czech slave labour" thing as well.

So does it need it? I like the Platform11 plan. It'll take away the need for much of the tunnelling. That way only the required routes not covered by that plan need to be tunnelled. The damn thing doesn't necessarily have to go underground all that much, if at all. In the city centre it probably does but that's only a few miles. The Tokyo metro does rather well for a system that stays over ground as much as possible.

Here's a dumb slightly related question: when's the last time in Ireland new track was laid on a new line? In other words a line that didn't exist until then (Dart electrification extensions don't count & let's ignore the Luas for the question purposes). Just wondering.

embraer170

So does it need it? I like the Platform11 plan. It'll take away the need for much of the tunnelling. That way only the required routes not covered by that plan need to be tunnelled. The damn thing doesn't necessarily have

40+ minutes to cover the 8km between the airport and the city? To top that a premium priced service à la Stansted/Gatwick Express (so I presume costing €10+), I really can't see it working.

sligoliner

>when's the last time in Ireland new track was laid on a new >line? In other words a line that didn't exist until then (Dart >electrification extensions don't count & let's ignore the Luas for >the question purposes). Just wondering.


Lavistown Curve in Co. Killkenny in 1990. A half a mile of new track - the sum total of brand new railway lines built in Ireland since the formation of Irish Rail in 1987

They have closed 206 miles of railway line in the same period.

sceptre

Originally posted by embraer170
40+ minutes to cover the 8km between the airport and the city? To top that a premium priced service à la Stansted/Gatwick Express (so I presume costing €10+), I really can't see it working.

Oops, my mistake in posting. I meant the general Platform 11 plan for Dublin (the spencer dock bits, the rail connection between Heuston & Connolly for a start until we've cash to upgrade that line properly or do something else). Wasn't including the airport link in that as an only solution - a high-speed airport link will have to be done properly sooner rather than later. My fault for being less than clear.

Victor

Originally posted by sceptre
Prague is one of the few European cities that has had a metro built in recent times from scratch (1970s). The cut and cover method was used more often than the casual traveller might think (it does run under the main boulevards where possible and that isn't by accident) and there's the "engineered by the Russians, built using Czech slave labour" thing as well.

In Moscow, they have a policy of keeping the tunnelling team together and even thought the country / city is in dire straits, new sectiosna re constantly opening.

Originally posted by sceptre
Here's a dumb slightly related question: when's the last time in Ireland new track was laid on a new line? In other words a line that didn't exist until then (Dart electrification extensions don't count & let's ignore the Luas for the question purposes). Just wondering.

There have been some small new / rebuilt (having previously been removed) sections in Belfast. There have also been some very small engineering railways and the like.