Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

marno21

Article about Metrolink in yesterday's Indo - 80 boreholes complete with 40 to go.

The rest is the usual background guff.

magicbastarder

actually, does anyone have any links to maps of what the geology is like along the route?
i'm going to be staring at a building site for a few years, will be interesting to know what the depth of soil and what sort of bedrock there is along here.

Elmer Blooker

magicbastarder wrote: »

actually, does anyone have any links to maps of what the geology is like along the route?
i'm going to be staring at a building site for a few years, will be interesting to know what the depth of soil and what sort of bedrock there is along here.

I think the Dublin Port tunnel proves that the geology will not be a problem.
Two very large bores were dug under residential areas such as Marino and there was no problem despite the doom predicted, no one even noticed while the work was going on.
It should be pointed out that a rail tunnel is a much smaller than a tunnel that has two lanes for large HGVs so I really don't understand the attitude that a metro for Dublin can't be done. It is a much smaller engineering project than two road tunnels with four lanes for HGVs.

CatInABox

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

I think the Dublin Port tunnel proves that the geology will not be a problem.
Two very large bores were dug under residential areas such as Marino and there was no problem despite the doom predicted, no one even noticed while the work was going on.
It should be pointed out that a rail tunnel is a much smaller than a tunnel that has two lanes for large HGVs so I really don't understand the attitude that a metro for Dublin can't be done. It is a much smaller engineering project than two road tunnels with four lanes for HGVs.

In fairness, there was tens of thousands paid out in damages caused by the Port Tunnel. Not a huge amount at all, but it definitely caused some damage.

magicbastarder

Elmer Blooker wrote: »

I think the Dublin Port tunnel proves that the geology will not be a problem.

i'm not saying the geology will be a problem. i'm curious as to what the geology is.

Equium

The Geological Survey of Ireland hosts ArcGIS map resources. You can use these to get an idea of the underlying geological conditions at any point nationwide, as well as geotechnical data from existing boreholes.

Elmer Blooker

CatInABox wrote: »

In fairness, there was tens of thousands paid out in damages caused by the Port Tunnel. Not a huge amount at all, but it definitely caused some damage.

I have a relative in Marino and they received a few grand as part of a CPO because of some grey area in Irish law where the home owner also owned the land under their property right to the centre of the earth. I'm not making this up. I am not aware of any damage to property as said relative didn't even notice as the boring went on under their property, not even the slightest vibration!

madbeanman

We can see that the Government is announcing plans and schemes by the dozen in the past couple of days (money for border counties, the event centre, vaccine programme, reforms of the Irish language education system, money for the Trinners hub on the Docks, the first professorships on gender quota scheme etc. etc.). Leo also made a video about the next year and mentioned Dart and Luas as sources for investment but not a peep about the Metro. You think he'd push it more when he is on this pre-election mission to promise the son moon and stars. It made me a bit nervous tbh.

MJohnston

Mods - would there be any chance we could create a Metrolink news thread and keep this one for discussion? Kinda like they do on the weather forum for certain things. We’re hopefully getting to the stage where more news will be incoming!

cgcsb

I have no doubt we'll get some form of bus connects, perhaps watered down. There'll be a fudged dart expansion, hybrid trains and a few closed level crossings and shure it'll be grand. Those things can be done in stages and easily abandoned at the end of any particular stage.

Metro hasn't a hope once construction starts it's all or nothing, no backing out. No government will commit to that expenditure over that time frame.

prunudo

cgcsb wrote: »

I have no doubt we'll get some form of bus connects, perhaps watered down. There'll be a fudged dart expansion, hybrid trains and a few closed level crossings and shure it'll be grand. Those things can be done in stages and easily abandoned at the end of any particular stage.

Metro hasn't a hope once construction starts it's all or nothing, no backing out. No government will commit to that expenditure over that time frame.

Hopefully you're wrong but like madbeanman I'm nervous. Its long over due and needs to be done but its a case of I won't believe till I see it.

Pete_Cavan

Can these "it's not going to happen" posts be banned? They add absolutely nothing to the discussion and if anything sidetrack the thread and send it off on tangents.

CrabRevolution

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Can these "it's not going to happen" posts be banned? They add absolutely nothing to the discussion and if anything sidetrack the thread and send it off on tangents.

I agree.While it's a perfectly valid opinion to have (even I'd be surprised if Metrolink gets built) it really adds nothing to the conversation. We should be discussing it on the basis that it will be built. If something comes up leading to its total cancellation we can talk about that then.

Peregrine

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Can these "it's not going to happen" posts be banned? They add absolutely nothing to the discussion and if anything sidetrack the thread and send it off on tangents.

And, once that talk spreads, it won't happen.

It's disappointing that people that want it to happen spend time telling people how it won't happen. Who is left to demand that it happens? You're a politician's dream and part of the problem.

Sam Russell

Mod: Can we keep the 'It' not going to happen' elsewhere. This thread is for discussing the project, not trying to put the hex on it. Such posts will be deleted.

marno21

New Ireland 2040 documents published today reaffirm commitments to start MetroLink in 2021 with a 2027 opening. This is pending a successful planning application. Many of the original pie in the sky road project timelines have been revised (the M20 had a start date of 2021 with 2024 completion which has been revised to 2025 start with tbc completion)

MrAbyss

marno21 wrote: »

New Ireland 2040 documents published today reaffirm commitments to start MetroLink in 2021 with a 2027 opening. This is pending a successful planning application. Many of the original pie in the sky road project timelines have been revised (the M20 had a start date of 2021 with 2024 completion which has been revised to 2025 start with tbc completion)

Have I landed in another dimension!

Sam Russell

MrAbyss wrote: »

Have I landed in another dimension!

No, but there is an election in the offing. Dublin needs Metrolink now, and FFG needs votes in Dublin.

Idbatterim

Sam Russell wrote: »

No, but there is an election in the offing. Dublin needs Metrolink now, and FFG needs votes in Dublin.

down the bottom of the list when it comes to things they deem vote winners!

The Satanist

marno21 wrote: »

Article about Metrolink in yesterday's Indo - 80 boreholes complete with 40 to go.

The rest is the usual background guff.

I'd love if there was a weekly or fortnightly official news update on Metrolink. It *seems* painfully slow, if we could see what's happening week to week, it would at least feel like something is getting done.

Idbatterim

would 90m low floor trams solve the issue of greenline closure? Can they be driverless with the current infrastructure?

AlmightyCushion

Idbatterim wrote: »

would 90m low floor trams solve the issue of greenline closure? Can they be driverless with the current infrastructure?

Even if using low floor trams would solve that I think we need to go with short term pain for long term gain. Going high floor gives us much higher capacity and this line will carry a lot of people so capacity on this line is going to be important.

salmocab

Idbatterim wrote: »

would 90m low floor trams solve the issue of greenline closure? Can they be driverless with the current infrastructure?

No the real closure issue is the tie in not the height of the platforms

Idbatterim

salmocab wrote: »

No the real closure issue is the tie in not the height of the platforms

it seems an outrageously long closure. Is this just carrying on the irish tradition of everything going glacially slow? I am sure this happens in other countries all the time, what is their closure period?

ricimaki

I don't think any train manufactures produce driverless trams/low floor vehicles. Whilst the primary reason for this is that tram lines go through busy pedestrian and road traffic zone, I'd image there would be a high cost in adding this in. Going with a high floor driverless system allows Metrolink to use "off-the shelf" trains which have already been proven abroad (such as in Copenhagen).

We saw with the 9-car Luas trams how something relatively simple like adding 2 cars to an existing tram can have unforeseen issues early on. Whilst these are resolved now, it did cause reduced capacity early on for Green/cross-city line. I can only image adding driverless technology to system not originally designed for it will throw up a lot more issues.

Idbatterim

speaking of lengthening the luas trams, just back from sydney and there, it looked like they just had two x 30m trams, attached to one another, that they could "de-couple" when and as needed...

salmocab

Idbatterim wrote: »

it seems an outrageously long closure. Is this just carrying on the irish tradition of everything going glacially slow? I am sure this happens in other countries all the time, what is their closure period?

Oh I’m sure they exaggerated the closure length to justify dumping it.

Idbatterim

salmocab wrote: »

Oh I’m sure they exaggerated the closure length to justify dumping it.

sounds about right. during the summer, could they not work on it between 6am and ten pm?

salmocab

Idbatterim wrote: »

sounds about right. during the summer, could they not work on it between 6am and ten pm?

I don’t think it’s so much the work hours as they put out a time line that had one phase finishing before the next phase started but in reality there could be an overlap as they weren’t linked. It was discussed either somewhere here or maybe on the Dublin commuter FB page.

Idbatterim

can they continue running the luas up the the last station before the tie in? where people could continue journey by dublin bike, walk or bus?