Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

I looked myself previously and could never locate it. 20 mins to city centre (which I assume was O’Connell Street) from the airport is all that there seems to be with estimates beyond that.

The Munich U1 was extended from Rotkreuzplatz (which was the northern terminus until 1998) by dropping intermediate spoil shafts to extract the spoil from behind the TBM. They opened the stations along the extension behind the TBM sequentially, not all at the same time. It's definitely possible technically. As the TBM passes along the newly constucted station boxes serve as new extraction points for spoil (and indeed the tunnel and station box behind could be fitted out and taken into service like in the Munich example). Yes, it means that trucks will pass through the city from each extraction point until the next extraction point is reached so the "inconvenience" moves as the tunnel is built. It doesn't inconvenience one area for the entire duration of the build.

Another method that I believe may have been used in Madrid is to use the actual metro tracks to remove buffered spoil (buffered during the day in the next unfinished station box behind the TBM) by taking the spoil out on spoil wagons at night.

A third and fairly inovative method that would be an option in the specific case of Charlemont would be to extract spoil there by conveyor onto a pair or two of….electrically powered canal barges, which would shuttle the spoil virtually silently the relatively short distance to a land reclamation project in Dublin bay and drop it there. We have reclaimed land for decades there anyway. It would be nothing new.

There's more than one way to skin a cat as they say.

I would’ve thought there’s a separate thread for all this?

🤣 Let’s have this conversation on the appropriate thread will we?

Now that we have RO when is the official cabinet approval given for this project to go ahead?

The Green Line is already at capacity, it's jammers at rush hour - and as you say, more and more apartment and house developments are coming on-stream. We should just try to ignore Michael McDowell and upgrade asap for the good of Dublin. Why can't we have multiple infrastructure projects on the go at the same time? I know the Green Line upgrade will mean bus transfers for a while, but the sooner it starts, the sooner it's finished, and the Luas frequency and capacity can be increased.