Dublin metro could be built by 2006 for Euro 1.5bn

Dublin's underground metro system could be built by 2006 for as little as €1.5 billion, the president of the Madrid metro system has claimed. The figure is less than half the revised €3.4 billion costing revealed by the Rail Procurement Agency (RPA) on Wednesday.

Addressing the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport yesterday, Prof Manuel Melis Maynar urged Ireland to fast-track infrastructure planning and construction.

He said there were five times more people than needed working on major projects in the Republic.

He added that plans for the new metro in Dublin could be ready by February. A two-month public consultation period could take place, with "authorities" given three months. Any changes arising from the consultation process should be finalised within two weeks.

The State should be less willing to pay substantial fees to "consultants who consultant with consultants and advisers who advise advisers".

"It is up to legislators to clear the way," he said.

Speed and dedication by those with a passion for engineering where the key to building a major metro system as quickly and as cost-effective as possible.

"Most consultants will tell you you need years to design (a metro) but this is not the case. Any more than a year and it cost more money and more time. When they built the channel tunnel it took them two years to design the carriages, that was why it was such a financial disaster.

"In the next three years you could have a metro. But it would be tunnelling 24 hours a day, 365 days a week, no holidays. But as engineers this is our life; if you want to build a metro it is a serious business."

He said the carriages for the system could be ordered by November 2004, and tendering for tunnelling and other work should take no more than two months. If that schedule was adhered to there was no reason why Dublin could not have a metro system by 2006.

"In Paris at the beginning of the century they built the metro from foundations to opening in 20 months. They had no plant and machinery. Why do consultants tell us that now, 100 years later, it should take five or six years?"

Prof Melis Maynar added it was estimated the Madrid system had saved commuters 12 million hours in travel time per year. Each hour was worth between €10 and €12.

"The system paid for itself within six years. And then you have to take into account all of the environmental improvements and easing of congestion because there are fewer cars on the roads."

Stations should be built overground and then "cut and shut" into the earth. Each station should be ready when cutting gear beneath the surface arrives.

The Irish should keep the project simple. "You should avoid exhibition-type stations. You are in a tunnel, why do you need beauty? Nobody cares."

Irish laws should be changed which would allow the State acquire the land beneath houses for a set price.

Health and safety officials were generally negative people "telling you you can't do this and that", and so they should be included in the planning process and "not point out problems later".

Because the Dublin metro would not be high-speed, two tracks should run in the one tunnel. In that way if a crash occurred a support train could arrive quickly on the free track.

If the Dublin system operated on speeds no more than 80 kilometres per hour even if a train crashed it is possible there would be few fatalities or perhaps even none at all.