The next steps on building Ireland’s first metro will be announced today as the price tag is estimated at €9.5b.
MetroLink will provide a mostly underground high-frequency rail line between Swords and Dublin city centre, via the airport.
The green light has been given to push forward with the landmark project that will be in operation by 2034.
Dublin’s MetroLink could cost up to €23b in an “extreme case scenario“, according to the Tanaiste.
Planning permission for the long anticipated rail line between Swords and the city, linking Dublin Airport, is due to be lodged in September.
On the cards for more than 20 years, MetroLink looks set to finally go ahead with the government giving the preliminary business case the go ahead.
It’s estimated to cost 9.5 billion euro but that could rise to over 12 billion – Tánaiste Leo Varadkar: ”That’s a cost that’s estimated before we have planning permission and before we have done any tendering so you’re right to say that could go up, buy you know sometimes the cost of things go down as well.”
Feljin Jose from the Dublin Commuter Coalition says the mostly underground 19 kilometre route is a landmark project: ”Once people see how successful it is, more people in more areas of Dublin will be calling out for more metro’s for their areas.”
Brian Caulfield is an Associate Professor at the School of Engineering at Trinity College: ”When we look into 2030, the cost of congestion is estimated to be about €2B per year in the capital. Not saying that metro is going to fix congestion but it will go some of the way to help it.”
The fully automated line have 16 stations with trains running every three minutes at peak times.
Construction is expected to begin in 2025, with the metro completed by 2034.
Dublin Fingal TD, Alan Farrell said, the news that the business case for MetroLink has been approved by Cabinet is welcome, but overdue, the Government should ensure the next steps are completed without undue delay.
Deputy Farrell said “MetroLink will be the first fully automated transport system in Ireland, carrying hundreds of thousands of passengers, connecting Dublin airport, hospitals, universities and the city centre. Serving 20,000 passengers, each way, every hour in the initial years. This will also see arrivals every 3 mins at peak hours in both directions.”
“The next phase will see TII lodge a Railway Order with An Bord Pleanála this September. With no unnecessary delays and the required Government approvals, MetroLink could commence construction in late 2025, such that it would be operational in the early 2030s.”
“MetroLink will also create jobs, approximately 8,000 during the construction phase alone. It will also offer cleaner ways of traveling; MetroLink provides a unique opportunity to remove thousands of cars from our roads on a daily basis, significantly reducing private car usage and associated carbon emissions. It will provide over 1 billion carbon neutral, fully electrified, passenger trips by 2050.”
Deputy Farrell added, “The systems used in the MetroLink project are the future, it’s our job to make it a present-day reality.”
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