preferred route for a metro line for Dublin

[Adlington]

So far it's the Emerging Preferred Route (EPR), rather than the final route, according to Mr Michael Nolan, CEO of Transport Infrastructure Ireland. Public consultation on the project gets under way immediately with the line scheduled to be operational in 2027

The proposed 26km route will run from Estuary, north of Swords in the north of the city to Sandyford in the south, via the airport and the city centre. The line will include two underground sections, with the first running beneath the airport, and the second running from the south of Dublin City University beneath the city centre and emerging close to Charlemont, where the line will join the existing Luas Green Line alignment to Sandyford. The Green Line will be upgraded for metro operation as part of the project.

The line will have 25 stations, 15 of which will be new metro stations, and is forecast to carry 15,000 passengers per hour per direction at peak times when it opens in 2027. The line is expected to operate 30 trains per hour in each direction and use trains of more than 60m in length while the project is anticipated to create 4000 jobs during construction.

Source

More information (key fact, maps &c): Metrolink site

The MetroLink project is the development of a north-south urban railway service that will run between the busy corridor of Swords and Sandyford, connecting key destinations including Dublin Airport and the City Centre along the 26km route.

A large proportion of the route will be underground, including where it passes under the important city centre area and Dublin Airport. The underground section will terminate close to Charlemont Stop on the Luas Green Line South City Area, where the metro will rise up and connect to, and runs southwards on, the existing Luas Green Line. The Luas Green Line will be upgraded to metro standard as part of the project....

 

[duesselmartin]

How realistic is that timescale? Who eill operate it?
I also wonder if a tram type metro will suffice for that very busy airport or If a Dart type scheme would Not be better.

 

[edwin_m]

How realistic is that timescale? Who eill operate it?
I also wonder if a tram type metro will suffice for that very busy airport or If a Dart type scheme would Not be better.

I was part of the team doing the feasibility study a few years ago and one of the options studied was for a branch off the DART going westwards into the airport. However the DART would only really serve the airport whereas the Metro as described provides rapid transit to a whole sector of northern Dublin that has nothing at present. DART is capacity constrained by the need to fit between other train services.

 

[Hornet]

How realistic is that timescale? Who eill operate it?
I also wonder if a tram type metro will suffice for that very busy airport or If a Dart type scheme would Not be better.

Going on previous form (Metro North, Metro West, Dart Underground, Luas Green Line Extension to Bray, Luas to Lucan, advanced plans for which all existed in 2008 in the RPA (Railway Procurement Agency)), I wouldn't hold my breath that it would even happen. Luas Cross City has caused major problems in the College Green Area, (Foreseen by the RPA but largely ignored by the Politicians and vested interests, none of whom could organise a Drinks Competition in St James' Gate).

The plans show that the Luas Green Line will be effectively cut in two between Charlemont and Sandyford. (The Luas Green Line was originally designed to be converted to Metro). This will mean that the Luas Green Line will operate as two separate sections, Charlemont to Broombridge and Sandyford to Brides Glen. There is no mention of a Tram/Train solution to Bridge the gap. (Joined up thinking is not a strong point With Politicians in this City or State).

The plans would mean that there would be two North South 'Metro' style routes, (the other being DART). As for the large communities in West Dublin (Tallaght, and Lucan), well there's Bus Connects and some talk of 'Sparks' on the Maynooth Line, but no Major Transport Infrastructure initiatives, Also the inevitable whining from the Unions about mentoring new Train Drivers, Night Buses and the take over of some Dublin Bus routes by Go-Ahead, doesn't install confidence that Public Transport in this City is going to improve in the next while. As for West Dublin to the Airport just a premium rate hourly coach covering a population of 250,000, and an appalling outer Dublin Bus service which is not fit for a supposed 21st Century Hi Tech City Economy.

Still as the Parish Pump Politicians argue their corners, Dublin's City Centre Public Transport Infrastructure, (as has been been seen in College Green over the last few weeks), comes to a grinding halt. They would all be better off fixing fixable problems, rather than coming up with revamp of plans that were costed and detailed designs done some 12 years ago.

 

[edwin_m]

The plans show that the Luas Green Line will be effectively cut in two between Charlemont and Sandyford. (The Luas Green Line was originally designed to be converted to Metro). This will mean that the Luas Green Line will operate as two separate sections, Charlemont to Broombridge and Sandyford to Brides Glen. There is no mention of a Tram/Train solution to Bridge the gap. (Joined up thinking is not a strong point With Politicians in this City or State).

The original intention was to have a "Metro" incompatible with LUAS (wider vehicles and 1500V electrification), which would have been used on an orbital route round the north-west of the city as well as a north-south route of some sort incorporating the southern half of the Green Line and probably other Metro routes too. The specification for Sandyford to Brides Glen make provision for future conversion to Metro standards and I think the track spacing on the former railway part of the Green Line also allowed for the wider vehicles.

However when speaking to RPA at the time of the Metro North feasibility study (2014) their intention was to keep the Metro to the LUAS specification although possibly with longer platforms. Assuming this is still the intention (and the OP photo shows a low-floor tram-like vehicle), the LUAS trams could probably use the southern half of Metro and if the surface link to St Stephens Green is kept then the cross-city line trams could still get to the depot at Sandyford and possibly even run this section carrying passengers.

 

[Hornet]

However when speaking to RPA at the time of the Metro North feasibility study (2014) their intention was to keep the Metro to the LUAS specification although possibly with longer platforms.

This sounds like exactly the same discussions I and my colleagues were having in 2007 in the RPA during the various discussions on Metro North and Metro West. Will dig around in some of my old work files to see if I have any design info on Metro North c.2006/7.

 

[edwin_m]

This sounds like exactly the same discussions I and my colleagues were having in 2007 in the RPA during the various discussions on Metro North and Metro West. Will dig around in some of my old work files to see if I have any design info on Metro North c.2006/7.

I was involved in one of the unsuccessful bids for Sandyford to Brides Glen in 2006 and the specification included provision for upgrade to 1500V and I think also for upgrade to a wider vehicle. So I guess that's what was built a few years later (I haven't found an excuse to visit it yet!) and the decision was made sometime after that.

 

[Hornet]

I was involved in one of the unsuccessful bids for Sandyford to Brides Glen in 2006 and the specification included provision for upgrade to 1500V and I think also for upgrade to a wider vehicle. So I guess that's what was built a few years later (I haven't found an excuse to visit it yet!) and the decision was made sometime after that.

Metro West Route Options 2006

http://www.mcrit.com/metrozaragoza/documents/europa/options_west.pdf

 

[edwin_m]

Metro West Route Options 2006

http://www.mcrit.com/metrozaragoza/documents/europa/options_west.pdf

Thanks for that. Not the most technical of documents but it does tend to confirm a similar approach to that for Sandyford to Brides Glen as I mentioned above.

Onto a tangent, it always bothered me that Metro West was described as a Metro when its orbital (or even tangential) nature made it likely to have much less demand than the radial Luas lines. That's one idea that seems to have gone quiet, though I guess you can never say any project in Dublin is truly dead.