Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

And on the ABP site

I believe TII mentioned before that they expect it to take 12+months

The government have mentioned reducing some state projects, to focus limited building resources on building more housing. So if a recession doesnt give them the easy out to cancel it, the need for more housing will!

When will these cretins realise that housing and infrastructure go hand in hand. We need massive spending in energy, water, transport infrastructure to keep up with the increasing population and housing demands. And the media are just as culpable for always focusing on the headline cost figure, trying to turn us against big ticket spending projects.

I would never call Colm McCarthy a voice worth listening to when it comes to rail projects.

He has never been in favour of any investment in rail and is frankly one of the main reasons the city is in the transport mess that it is today.

Colm McCarthy has no credibility, how anybody publishes his opinions is beyond me (but I guess the Sindo has little credibility either).

Unfortunately there are people in leafy superbs who lap up McCarthy's opinion pieces and believe what thean says.

Fair point, but you're also a mod on an infrastructure forum so I'd imagine you have far more interest and knowledge on the subject than the regular joe soaps.

For an economist, Mr McCarthy seems to present a very one dimensional perspective on the provision of public transport infrastructure.

I have no idea why. Maybe the newspaper he writes for likes a negative article about trains every so often?

With so many people in Greater Dublin wasting so much time on road based commuting, the cost to the national economy in lost productivity must be staggering.

With the planet on fire and Mr McCarthy and the newspaper he writes for apparently trapped in the 1960s, we can only hope that reason will prevail at government level.

This just the opinion of another Dublin 4 treehugger in his 60s - there are plenty of us around.

If it was up to the likes of him, there wouldn't even be a DART never mind a Luas.

Given that his opinions on PT are completely laughable and not worth a nanosecond's consideration, it has to call into serious question his analysis of any topic tbh.

Has anyone worked out how much has been spent on underground rail projects in Ireland- even though we’ve never actually built any underground rail (bar the PPT)?

Sure they are all at it

Dear All,

As you are probably aware, an application has recently been made to An Bórd Pleanála for a railway order (this is in substance planning permission) for a metro underground (MetroLink) from Estuary to Charlemont (which is on the southern side of the Grand Canal beside the Luas bridge) with the Tunnel Boring Machine being parked under Manders Terrace in Ranelagh.

However, there is considerable controversy about the terminus station being at Charlemont for various reasons. In our case, we have significant issues about a Charlemont terminus making it more difficult to bring a viable metro to the south west city. This is because it is difficult to see how populous suburbs such as Rathmines, Portobello and Harold's Cross could be served by a metro extension starting at Charlemont.

We believe that the inclusion of those suburbs is potentially important for the viability of a south west metro service.  As many of our buses go to Rathmines, a station in Rathmines would facilitate easy access to the airport for us.

There was extensive political discussion in early summer during which it seemed to be accepted by the Minister Eamon Ryan that the MetroLink system be extended into south Dublin in due course. This discussion suggested that the south west might be the best option. In this context we lobbied for a slight change to the MetroLink project by having an interim southern terminus at St Stephen's Green in exactly the same place as the MetroLink plan envisaged. When proper research had been done on the best option for an extension southward, an amended planning could then be submitted if a station beyond St Stephen's Green were deemed appropriate. However, the Minister declined to intervene to have the planning application amended to terminate at St Stephen's Green.

In the circumstances, the Metro South West steering group strongly believes that we should object to MetroLink but solely on the basis that its City terminus should be the planned St Stephens Green station and that the kilometre or so to Charlemont and the Charlemont station should not proceed at this stage. We would also recommend that our constituent residents' group should object on a similar basis. We would ask that each of you confirm to us at the earliest opportunity that you agree with us making such a submission. As the deadline for submissions on MetroLink is Friday 25 November, we would appreciate it if you could confirm this is in order, on or prior to 31 October.

We propose to report back to our residents' groups in mid-November about the progress made on Metro South West generally.  We have tentatively suggested Tuesday 8th November for that purpose. We will revert to you about that but would appreciate knowing your availability on that date.

Metro South West Group.