The head of the Railway Procurement Agency talks to Frank McDonaldabout future metro services.
The proposed metro station beneath St Stephen's Green will be designed to make it possible to extend the line serving Dublin airport southwards to Sandyford and beyond, according to the head of the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA).
Although this was mooted by the Dublin Transportation Office in its Platform for Change strategy in 2000, no provision was made to continue Metro North beyond St Stephen's Green under the Government's €34.4 billion Transport 21 programme, which runs to 2015.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Irish Times, RPA chief executive Frank Allen said if a business case for the proposed Metro West line from Tallaght to Ballymun "doesn't stand up" in terms of passenger projections it would not be pursued by the agency.
He also said the RPA had told the Department of Transport that it was against being subsumed into the proposed Dublin Transport Authority.
"We don't think dismantling the RPA is in the best interests of moving ahead with projects that we've been mandated to do."
Dealing with Metro North, which would link Swords with St Stephen's Green, Mr Allen said the agency was beginning the process of going to tender; an invitation to potential public-private partnership (PPP) contractors appeared in the official EU journal last week.
Describing the project as "enormous", with a 7km tunnel from the city centre to Griffith Avenue and a 1.5km tunnel at the airport, he said the RPA wanted to ensure that some of the biggest and most experienced civil engineering contractors abroad would put in bids to build it.
However, he ruled out further tunnelling in areas such as Ballymun. "I think there is a risk in Metro North that if we were to respond positively to every proposal to do things in a different way, we would end up with a perfect project on paper that would never get built."
Mr Allen said if the RPA was required to build a second underground station in St Stephen's Green, to serve the future rail interconnector between Heuston Station and Spencer Dock, it "would blow our project" - the cost of which is unofficially estimated at €3.5 to €4 billion.
"Luas was a huge project, but this is much larger and more complex. To attempt to add more scope to it would run a risk that the whole thing would collapse under its own complexity.
"In due course, however, I think we will have a tunnel between St Stephen's Green and Beechwood."
This 2km tunnel would render part of the Luas Green line redundant, between St Stephen's Green and Beechwood in Ranelagh. All existing Luas stops farther south would also require to have their platforms lengthened to cater for 90-metre metro trains.
Mr Allen conceded that the Green would have to be excavated to create an underground terminus for Metro North. "A number of mature trees would have to be removed, and we are in discussions with the Office of Public Works on this."
On the plus side, he said Metro North would "open up a whole corridor to Swords that's not well served by public transport at the moment". It would also link up with the Maynooth suburban line in Drumcondra as well as the Luas in O'Connell Street after its two lines are finally brought together.
He said Iarnród Éireann had "only begun thinking about" the much deeper Heuston-Spencer Dock rail interconnector. "There's a huge amount of work to be done on it and [consultant engineers] Mott McDonald have only just been appointed to identify an alignment for the project."
Asked about the viability of Metro West, he said no outline business case had been prepared yet. "Looking at the pattern of development in Dublin and congestion on the M50, I see a case for it. If we don't provide a public transport solution for orbital trips what's the alternative - build another M50?" Public consultation on route options for Metro West was under way, and Mr Allen said there would be public meetings and open days in January. "When we have identified a feasible route we will then prepare the business case. If it doesn't stand up, we would not be pushing it very hard".
Asked if Metro West was really just another Luas line, with none of it running underground, Mr Allen said the RPA was "trying to de-emphasise the distinction" between the two modes. "Accessibility in the suburbs will be similar because you don't need the same level of segregation there."
He also defended the refusal by the RPA and the Department of Transport to release details on the estimated cost of either metro project. "I am in full agreement with Minister [for Transport Martin] Cullen that if we put any figures on the table our ability to maintain value for money is seriously compromised."