One-ticket trips across Dublin possible

Most journeys across Dublin should be possible using just one ticket, the Minister for Public Enterprise said yesterday after the Government had approved the development of a £4.3 billion metro system for the city.

The metro system will be designed to integrate with Dublin's quality bus corridors, the DART and Arrow suburban services, mainline rail, and the proposed light-rail transit system, Luas, said Ms O'Rourke.

This week the contract for light-rail carriages will be signed and next month the main construction contract for the Luas line from Sandyford to St Stephen's Green is to be agreed.

A survey of the Store Street to Connolly Station section - Abbey Street to Connolly Station - is to begin on September 18th in Dublin. This line is expected to be completed by the end of 2002.

The Minister said she was particularly pleased that the timetable for the Luas line was being maintained, with construction work on the line from Tallaght to St Stephen's Green already under way. This line is due to be finished at the end of 2002.

The final stage of the Luas system from Sandyford to St Stephen's Green is due to be completed by 2003. The system is expected to cost a total of £373 million.

The metro system is expected to take anything from seven to 15 years to complete, the Minister said. The optimistic forecast was seven to 10 years, but she felt the realistic forecast was closer to 15 years. Within 12 months a competition will have been devised to select a partner to run the Luas system, while early next year legislation will be brought forward to set up an independent agency to secure partners for all major rail infrastructural projects in the State, said Ms O'Rourke. This agency will assume responsibility for the current light-rail project office as well as seeking expressions of interest from contractors in relation to the metro.

The trains on the metro system are expected to be in the region of 120 metres long as opposed to 40-metre trains on the LRT. Because of the dedicated, separated route, trains on the metro should be able to run every minute, if necessary, at peak. Trains on the LRT will run every three minutes.

By 2016, total peak-hour trips are forecast at 448,000, a 95 per cent increase on the 1997 level. If no new investment was undertaken total car trips would double during the period 1997 to 2016. The result would be to reduce peak-hour speeds on radial roads to 8 k.p.h., compared with 14 k.p.h. in 1997 and 22 k.p.h. in 1991.

However, while Ms O'Rourke described the plan as "visionary", Labour Party spokesman Mr Emmet Stagg said the Government should "stop prevaricating and changing its mind" on transport plans, while the Fine Gael spokesman, Mr Jim Higgins, described it as "flimsy" and "pie in the sky", which he said would probably never see reality.

The Green Party spokesman, Mr Ciaran Cuffe, said it was "sceptical", describing the plans as "grandiose".

But the Dublin Transportation Office chairman, Mr Conor McCarthy, said the Government's support for the project recognised it could play a key role as part of a rejuvenated public transport system for the region. The plans were also welcomed by Dublin Chamber of Commerce, which said it "scored highly".