Analysis: The route selected for Metro North is the most sensible option, but we still have no idea why a metro was chosen or how much it will cost, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor.
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said that Metro North will offer "a new travel experience for business and leisure commuters" in Dublin. That is certainly true. What is still unclear, however, is why yet another disparate element is being added to the city's already disparate public transport "system".
Dublin has buses, diesel suburban services, the electrified Dart line and two Luas light rail lines that have yet to be joined up. Integration of all of these has proved problematic because of the number of agencies involved, and there is still no sign of the introduction of integrated ticketing.
No business case or cost-benefit analysis has been published by the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) for a metro linking Swords with St Stephen's Green. If any such studies exist, the agency is under orders from the Department of Transport to release as little information as possible to the public. Earlier estimates of the cost by the RPA ranged from €3.2 billion to €4.6 billion, making it by far the most expensive public transport project in the history of the State. But it would appear that Mr Cullen has decided that not even a ballpark figure will be released, in case it turns out to be a gross underestimate.
Neither have the public been told why the metro option was chosen, as opposed to a rail spur off the Belfast line that would serve Dublin airport and Swords. The likely explanation for its inclusion in the Government's €34.4 billion Transport 21 investment programme is that metro is a "big ticket project".
However, the route announced yesterday makes more sense than the other options put forward for public consultation last February, because at least it will connect directly with the Maynooth suburban line at Drumcondra. Lack of such integration was one of the main criticisms levelled at some of the alternatives.
At the airport, the proposed metro will be linked directly with the existing main terminal and the proposed second terminal alongside it. The option of serving the airport more remotely with a station near the Great Southern Hotel would have been cheaper, because it involved less tunnelling, but was clearly inferior in transport terms.
As RPA chairman Pádraic White pointed out, the Metro North route is "much more than an airport link" because it will also serve Swords, Ballymun, Dublin City University, Griffith Avenue and the Mater hospital. It would need to be; in other cities with airport rail links, fewer than 30 per cent of airport users actually avail of them.
Altogether, there would be 14 stations along the route, with the possibility of another one on the east side of Parnell Square. This, or an alternative location on upper O'Connell Street, is strongly favoured by Dublin City Council as a key element of its plans to rejuvenate the area as a new cultural/museum quarter.
There will also be a station at O'Connell Bridge, built beneath the River Liffey, with access from both the north and south quays. This in itself will be a very costly undertaking, even more so than ordinary underground stations, all of which will require major excavation works affecting a substantial area on the street surface.
St Stephen's Green will be a notable casualty in this regard. Here, it is proposed to install the station on a "cut-and-cover" basis, and it has been suggested that at least a quarter of the park would be affected. But an RPA spokesman said the agency would be working closely with the Office of Public Works to minimise the damage.