Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

Murph85 · 17-07-2022 4:33am

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2022/07/09/fintan-otoole-ireland-has-managed-to-become-both-overdeveloped-and-undeveloped-without-ever-being-quite-developed/

Peregrine · 17-07-2022 11:29am

Ew, Conor Skehan.. 🤢

The Sindo firmly establishing itself as against MetroLink.

AngryLips · 17-07-2022 4:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119348414#Comment_119348414

Perhaps they're just judging from the lessons of history 🤔

Hotblack Desiato · 17-07-2022 4:23pm

Can't read the article but I reckon I'm not missing much!

Never heard of Conor Skehan but a quick search paints him as a bit of an eejit to say the least

Zebra3 · 17-07-2022 5:09pm

At least they had the decency to put it behind a paywall.

strassenwo!f · 17-07-2022 9:15pm

un

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119347822#Comment_119347822

Have you tried taking the LUAS from Dundrum to, say, Dawson Street (22 minutes), then getting the Aircoach? Probably around an hour, for less than 20 quid.

In your ideal scenario, under the current plan, if built, you'd be getting on in Dundrum, changing to the metro at Charlemont, and getting to the Airport in around 50 minutes, for perhaps around a fiver. Not a huge difference, compared to the journeys faced by people in many other parts of the city

Dublin is certainly way behind in many aspects of public transport, but great efforts are being made. The city must work hard to catch up, but it is not a kip.

strassenwo!f · 17-07-2022 9:36pm

One further thing I would add about the articles mentioned recently above: both Colm McCarthy, last week, and Conor Skehan, this, talk about Dublin being a low-density city.

This is a myth, and it is clear that the Dublin City Council area is absolutely on a par - density-wise - with Munich, which has a very fine transport system, and ahead of, e.g., Frankfurt and Copenhagen, both of which have well-developed rail transport systems, or, say, Helsinki, which also has decent rail transport, but is frankly a density-minnow compared to Dublin.

These writers may possibly be right in some areas, but on the issue of density we need to hear more, I feel.

prunudo · 18-07-2022 7:14am

Both McCarthy and Skehan will be retired by the time Metrolink opens, happily enjoying their pensions and free tansport. Meanwhile the younger generations that follow will be suffering due to these 'experts' muddying the water the their opinion pieces.

Sindo and Times readers don't care about metros or public transport, won't even be the their target customers yet they seem to have too much sway on public policy and where we go as a country.

JohnnyChimpo · 18-07-2022 11:00am

wouldnt bother hate-reading Skehan even if it wasnt paywalled, just wanted to point and laugh at the use of "shiny" as a pejorative here. Like... "maybe we should build new infrastructure sometimes, but we can't be wasting any money making it all shiny" , The cost of Brasso alone must be adding a couple billion to the projections.

Real internalised serf mentality, everything is sh1t, we like it being sh1t, and if you expect nice things you should emigrate to a country with notions

Sam Russell · 18-07-2022 1:33pm

McCarthy is on record saying that buses alone will solve the need for public transport (from the Airport to city centre).

Now buses alone could not even cope with the employees, let alone the passengers. Taxi availability is governed by a 30 min queue. Car parking is already maxed out, despite the exorbitant cost of it.

So how do passengers get to the airport? They fly in from Kerry or Knock, as some have done in an attempt to locate their lost baggage.

The Metrolink is only one bit of many improvements the airport needs. A bit of good management and a few more trained personnel is also essential. I wonder could they build the Metrolink Swords to the M50 bit first?

dublinman1990 · 18-07-2022 7:20pm

There is something amazing to note here when we talk about both the contributors and readers of The Sindo & IT when talking about Metrolink. They could be the very 1st group to have the belief on social media in this country that climate change is real and a very real threat to our own humanity.

They could be the 1st group of people in this country to buy an electric car, if they have the financial resources to buy one, if they are to close to electric charging points that would be located near their own house.

But they would dismiss the likelihood that a project like Metrolink should not be built in Dublin because it is somewhat known by the media to be a project that is filled with a lot of notions?

They could be the very 1st group of people to say that using PT is a great boon among the peasant class; you know the great unwashed. But they don't want them to have nice things like Metrolink that will offer even better improvements to people who use PT in Dublin. That is something that I don't get to fully understand when I talk about this topic.

If they are banking on the idea that ABP will appease to their own whims that the project will be rejected yet again in future. Dealing with our own climate may give them an ultimatum that may put them in their place as it were.

spacetweek · 18-07-2022 10:14pm

If the main reason this eventually gets built is just because it is seen as contributing towards our carbon reductions (and not, like, because a major capital city of a booming economy probably could do with some decent public transport) it will not bode well for the future. Because we can't keep forcing through essential infrastructure & services improvements due to external legislation.

We should be doing it because we deserve it.

Podge_irl · 19-07-2022 9:05am

It is not the main reason, but it doesn't exactly hurt.

murphaph · 19-07-2022 9:54am

The "it's too good for us" mentality truly is sickening. Decent roads infrastructure is seen as a right while decent rail infrastructure is seen as a luxury.

MyLove4Satan · 19-07-2022 10:20am

Invoking Climate Change and Carbon is actually - and always will be - detrimental upon the ears of the general public when it comes to promoting investment in things like a metro. The focus should be entirely upon how everyone's commute and lifestyle will be greatly improved by it and the knock on effects will transform their well being of their work-life balance as well as that of the city as a whole.

<snip>

Sell it as a practical improvement to their lives and they'll want it.

Sam Russell · 19-07-2022 1:38pm

The Luas was a white elephant according to the Doheny & Nesbitt School of Economics named after the pub where they espoused their economic theories from a bar stool.

Of course, once it started taking passengers, it was the best thing since the sliced white pan.

Now the same economists say that a metro is a waste and buses will suffice. This is nonsense as the metro service will move more passengers per hour than buses could per day. It could move passengers whatever was happening to traffic congestion on the city streets. It will connect with most other rail and bus based public transport. With appropriate P&R facilities, it will assist most drivers to move from city centre driving to P&R and make life so much easier.

What is not to like about metro living, and why are these dismal economists allowed to diss it so readily with no pushback from the media?

Zebra3 · 19-07-2022 2:18pm

As a curious cat, what cities have built metros and regretted it?

cgcsb · 19-07-2022 3:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119359136#Comment_119359136

Yerevan, Armenia. But it was built on the cheap in late Soviet times and was allowed to deteriorate to the point of being unusable but I think they've actually renovated it recently and enjoy a delightful metro service. Also worth noting that comparing it to Ireland, Armenia is very poor indeed and the capital is much smaller and much less visited than Dublin.

cgcsb · 19-07-2022 3:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119358830#Comment_119358830

News paper economists are like meteorologists that can only tell if it's already raining. A useless bunch by all accounts, no forethought, only basic current accounting

timmyntc · 19-07-2022 4:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119359610#Comment_119359610

If they were any good at predicting they wouldnt be writing for a lowly newspaper!

MyLove4Satan · 19-07-2022 11:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119359136#Comment_119359136

and there is the best comment on this massive threads. Well said.

xper · 21-07-2022 2:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119359136#Comment_119359136

Doubt they regret building what's in use now but the Charleroi metro (really trams with tunnels) is a salutary lesson in politics screwing up a public transport plan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeMJBqU_eYc

spacetweek · 21-07-2022 10:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119359136#Comment_119359136

Campinas, Brazil

https://twitter.com/threestationsq/status/1253873031086292993

Sam Russell · 22-07-2022 10:03am

Mod: I am not too sure, but last time I looked Brazil was not between Swords and Charlemont.

dublinman1990 · 22-07-2022 2:47pm

What sort of country today would abandon an active metropolitan underground rail link within the era of climate change? You would probably look like a complete fool from the likes of climate experts if you think you could get away from contemplating such an activity for no suitable reason whatsoever.

PopePalpatine · 25-07-2022 7:26pm

Pretty much the only one I could think of would be the USA, but that'd require one of their cities to actually propose a new metro to begin with.

spacetweek · 29-07-2022 5:29pm

We've received a write-up in the prestigious RailJournal.com.

Reproduced in full as they only let you read one or two articles before making you sign up.

"THE Irish cabinet has approved the preliminary business case for Dublin’s MetroLink project, a planned 19.4km automated metro that will run mostly underground from north of Swords in the north of the city via Dublin Airport to Charlemont, south of the city centre.

The line will have 16 stations and is expected to offer three-minute headways at peak times and will carry up to 20,000 passenger per hour, with the possibility of reducing headways to 90 seconds by 2060. The line is expected to open in the early 2030s and is projected to cost €9.5bn, the midpoint of a €7.16-12.25bn capital delivery cost range for the project.

Following cabinet approval, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), which is responsible for project delivery, will submit a planning application for the MetroLink route to the An Bord Pleanála, Ireland’s national independent planning body, in September ahead of the procurement process commencing next year. Construction is expected to commence in 2025, depending on the outcome of the planning and procurement processes.

The Irish government will cover three-quarters of the cost of the project with a quarter financed through a public-private partnership. The government says a more precise cost will be known following the completion of planning and procurement.

A metro for Dublin has been in the works for more than two decades and Ireland’s transport minister, Mr Eamon Ryan, describes MetroLink as a transformative piece of public transport infrastructure with the government’s decision a significant milestone for the project. “Now this exciting transport megaproject starts to become a reality,” he says. “We are giving the green light to a transport system that will be integral to the city and the country’s sustainable development in this century, and into the next.”

The project is expected to deliver €13.7bn of benefits to the Irish economy over the next 60 years. And with more than 175,000 people and 250,000 jobs able to access the stations on foot, the line is anticipated to provide more than 1 billion carbon-neutral, fully electrified passenger journeys by 2050. It will also offer a direct rail connection to the airport for the first time and interchange with Dublin’s existing Dublin Area Rapid Transit (Dart) and Luas light rail networks, connecting more than 1 million people in the Dublin area and across Ireland.

“The project will improve the quality of the urban environment and people’s lives, as well as enable the development of more well-connected homes in and around our capital city,” Ryan says. “It will contribute to a shift from the private car to more sustainable travel, helping to decarbonise the transport sector in line with government policy.”

prunudo · 30-07-2022 11:18am

The man is obsessed with carbon. The construction phase of metro will use colossal amounts. If he really wanted to reduce carbon in transport we'd stick to electric buses. This Metrolink and other lines need to be built asap, but their benefits will be far more than just decarbonising transport.

cgcsb · 30-07-2022 11:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407127#Comment_119407127

False. The main construction element of metrolink is a deep bore tunnel, built by an electrically powered TBM. Battery technology is revolutionising the construction industry with hybrid and electric powered machines becoming far more common. Construction sites in urban areas now get temporary esb connections instead of depending on deisel generators. There's also a whole life embodied carbon study included in the EIS.

prunudo · 30-07-2022 12:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119407157#Comment_119407157

The tbm may be electric but what about the amount of concrete and steel that is required. The transportation of spoil away from dig site.

I'm all for building this thing and the end result will be reduced carbon transportation but to get there will use huge amounts of fossil fuels and carbon.

Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

Comments