Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

there'll be closure of the inbound lane for some time for sure. The bus connects corridor is starting construction in a matter of weeks so not sure how that will be coordinated. I only assume it wont be, other than a coordinated utility diversion. Bus connects will build the new bus and cycling corridor and metrolink will probably dig it up again and replace it.

Not with a N11 Luas. Brian Caulfield has said the extension to Bray will only go ahead as part of this line. And that’s the one it looks like they are looking to move up with.

There’s an irritation with not having ML to Sandyford that I completely get and operational sacrifices, but all things considered the N11 is just much better in the next 20 years. It avoids shut downs with mediocre alternatives, it connects more high demand/places of interest, it provides similar capacity and gives more benefits to the stretched bus system.

I think it’s clear over the last 6 months that infrastructure has become one of the top government issues.

Cancelled further roll out of Busconnects ?

The NDP sectoral plan puts this out to 2029

That's not what cancelled means.

'cancelled' or 'pushed back indefinitely' is a matter of semantics. If you prefer pushed back indefinitely, fine, let's go with that. Luas Finglas is pushed back to a specific time i.e. 2029, the bus connects rollout is pushed back to an indefinite time. The camera based enforcement remains a nebulous concept after a decade of chat and has been further pushed back to some unknown time.

From the Irish Times article posted earlier.

"The National Development Plan allocated funding for several Dublin public transport projects, including the Luas extension to Finglas, the Dart+ expansion programme and BusConnects. BusConnects projects are also being funded in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford over the 2026-2030 term"

You are just making up all this cancelled or indefinitely stuff.

I understand the reasons to upgrade to MetroLink all the way to Sandyford. It’s “low hanging” fruit in terms of cost, but I think the N11 is actually preferable when everything is tossed up.

I’m not really clear at all what the point you’re actually trying to make here is…

Are you suggesting that the metro be extended south down the N11 instead of down the Green Line alignment?

Or are you saying that the N11 Luas line has to be built before the Green Line can be upgraded to Metro?

If it’s the latter I absolutely agree with you. In an ideal world, we could theoretically have the N11 Luas open a year or two after the Metro, in which case construction can start very quickly around that time on the GL upgrade.

In terms of your argument that both the N11 Luas and GL Metro-fication aren’t needed though, I would disagree. The N11 Luas will be jammed at rush from opening. You can’t get on an E bus from south of Stillorgan in as far as UCD most mornings. While a Luas offers way more capacity, I still think it’ll be very busy. Add in an extension to Bray and you it will easily get as busy as the Green Line in the mornings.

This is why the metro upgrade is needed. If the existing Green Line is jammed as things stand, that will definitely improve, and while it will still be very busy with passengers from Sandyford northwards, there will be room on board.

This is where the metro upgrade really comes into its own, as passengers from Fassaroe and Bray and northwards (which due to the likely street-running nature of a Bray extension, I can’t ever really see becoming a metro) and from Cherrywood can change to Metro at Sandyford. With a metro possible every 90 seconds during the peak, there will be comfortable capacity to pick this up, leaving room on the Luas for all the capacity that it will pick up on the N11 corridor.

Metrolink between Swords and Charlemont will be a phenomenal service but ending in the city centre is always going to hamper capacity so a direct southern extension to Sandyford makes the most sense and achieves an otherwise impossible level of bang-for-buck. It is surely a no brainer.

It isn’t guaranteed it will be rammed from day one. As it is, the E1 carries 7.5m along the whole route (both Luas lines are around 25 each). The E2 is fairly similar. Other buses on the corridor probably add up to one of those. Notionally a Luas line absorbs all of those passengers but it’s not the case that it reaches all of that catchment- it probably reaches barely 30% of those buses between them all.

Luas Green Line (without an upgrade) plus Luas N11 is equal to MetroLink capacity.

You might pull 4,000 at peak passengers off those buses plus 3,000-4,000 off the existing Green Line Luas south of Sandyford. You’ll still have extra capacity from day one.

How does the Barcelona Metro work? It says 25% driverless?

It'll be entire lines being driverless, rather than say a driverless Line XX train being followed by one with a driver.

It's easier to do on new lines, as you can design them to be completely segregated from the other lines, can build the platforms large enough to have platform doors etc. Doing it on older lines/stations can involve an expensive retro-fit that isn't justified by the (relatively) small saving of a couple of million a year on driver salaries.