Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

The tender for the Insurance Advisory and Brokerage Services Framework was published today. Reading the PQQ it suggests that the RO application has been pushed back yet again to Q3, although bizarrely, it states that the metro will be fully operational by 2029.

"it states that the metro will be fully operational by 2029."

The new CGI 3D model of 'MetroSpeed' will be fully uploaded to YouTube by then is what they mean.

3 years testing and commissioning is outrageous but then again the project was announced 4 years ago and there has not been a planning application made which is nothing short of a scandal. 4 years of fannying around with endless public consultation, including mini consultations on minor technical issues which the general public is unqualified to comment on.

not to mention thw Ranelagh darlings whinging to the times for 4 years. People say that we have to do this because of EU legislation. Completely untrue, in Spain you either check a website regularly which lists upcoming public projects or you find out when you see the bull dozers move in, we've gone to the other extreme, every nimby has to be pacified. Something has got to change.

And why not? Didn't we already ditch a shovel ready plan in Metro North for Metrolink?

You'll have to register to access the documents, or wait for the response time limit to expire.

It is over 20 years since i saw a "tube" like map of Dublin with Metros and Luas on it!

All that has been built is the green and red lines really!

The Metro-North/link whatever Swords-Airport-Ballymun-DCU-City Centre-Charelmont - just start it! The Swords-Airport-Ballymun-DCU.... seems pretty set in stone (I seem to recall them doing subterranean surveys for it), I think they were deciding on it changing to go via Drumcondra or Glasnevin? with a station at Parnell sq or O'Connell street.

Why not start Swords-Airport-Ballymun, while the rest (Ballymun-DCU-O'Connell St. and O'Connell St-St Stephens Green-Gharlemont?) is being teased out!

You can’t start something unless you know how it’s going to finish, imagine the cost of saying to the contractor right you’re just at Ballymun so here’s the rest of the plan send in the invoice and try not to make it outrageously expensive.

I know I'll draw ire for seemingly aligning myself with the "rethink metro" clowns, but I agree regarding the southern terminus at Charlemont. Dropping it, leaving the TBM under Stephen's green rather than under Charlemont, would cut considerable costs (200m maybe?) as well as avoiding spooking twitchy politicians who seem to sh*t their pants any sort of NIMBY crowd pipes up - and the residents around Dartmouth Square have already expressed their "concern" about the project.

But I'm a little more optimistic than you because of where we are in the election cycle. Imagine there was a GE coming up, every clown in opposition would be promising a "rethink", "to look at all options", etc. to appeal to NIMBYs and those who know nothing about the history of the project and will assume that no real "thinking" has gone into the current plan. Anyone hoping that ML ever sees the light of day better hope that the current coalition survives to the end of its term and preferably survives some what intact after the next GE.

In fairness, the only benefit of Metrolink over Metro North is the fact that the terminus doesn't end smack bang in city centre.

Nah.

ML integrates with every heavy rail line coming into the city - Kildare and Maynooth at Glasnevin and the coastal line at Tara. This will mean every DART+ station (60 odd) will be a 1 stop change to metro facilitating the sort of connectivity that seems normal in most European cities: Park West to the Airport, Dunboyne to O'Connell St, DCU to Blackrock, GCD to the airport, Clonsilla to Stephen's Green, etc. will all be one-stop change with very short average wait times on the platforms - less than 3 minutes during peak.

MN offered the absolute minimum integration, except for "surface integration" at Drumcrondra which meant MN was effectively severed from the busiest commuter line in Dublin - the coastal DART. MN was a product of the time when the NTA saw IE as competition and went out of their way to avoid integrating with DART or heavy rail.

Also ML is comparable with modern systems in Europe particularly by being driverless. MN looked like what a tram operator would design if given the budget to build tunnels.

Well of course it does, but Irish governments still continue to do this and are unlikely to change.