Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

Varadkar didn't mention €23bn, some gobshite asked him about the €23bn and he gave a typical wishy-washy, don't rule anything in or out politician answer when asked about something they have no clue about.

Who else are you going to wrongfully claim brought up the €23bn figure, Mickey D maybe?

Or in this case, half a line

Bus Connects Blanchardstown was lodged a few days ago and DART west will be lodged shortly and metrolink offers huge connectivity benefits to all of Dublin. I seen someone say similar that nothing was been done for finglas and that that it was ignoring the northside. There's some curious creatures out there

Mod : Quoted post removed for vulgar abuse.

I you have a point to make, could you please cut out the vulgar abuse.

I wonder would there be a case if possible to install platform screen doors at Tara Street for when the new trains arrive. They probably wouldn't be compatible with the ICRs mind you but the platforms there are narrow enough and might benefit from it.

Seriously if you think a 300m walk is not a link or connection you're just being deliberately thick - how many metres is it from platform 1 in Heuston to platform 7/8? Is it Bank and Monument in London that are linked and are essentially the same station.

Most people parking in Blanchardstown Shopping Centre will walk the guts of 300 metres to enter the shopping centre.

Nonsense point.

I wonder why they've decided to put a plaza above where ML is going in at Tara Street. That part of Dublin is kind of a dead zone aside from the offices in the area and people going to/from the station itself. I can see a plaza there only attracting undesirables especially at antisocial hours. It's prime real estate so they should try to build something above it as part of metro construction. Instead, we're going to get a plaza not unlike the one behind Busarus luas stop.

I agree with this. There is no draw in this area that would create a "vibrant public space" as gushingly described in the video.

They should just build (hotels and apartments) over the entire block and at the same time upgrade heavy rail station - it's the third busiest station in the country and is the most central heavy rail station in Dublin. The platforms should be much wider and more accessible and the entire station should be under a roof and it should be integrated better with ML (i.e. not requiring passing through one station exit at street level and walking to another street level entrance for interchange) and have multiple permanent entrances/paths to the platforms.

If there's one location in Dublin where the air-rights for construction would be valuable, it's here - the entire heavy rail line between the quays and Townsend st should be built over. The top of the cantenary is only 3 stories up.

fair enough - thanks for keeping my post up as I'm right about this.

Sometimes changing at King's Cross I swear I walk for about 15 minutes sometimes

Under a standard contract, the contractor does the work and gets paid or it. Under a PPP, the contractor gets paid over the course of decades so require external funding as they generally can't carry €X00,000,000 cost for so long from their own pocket. The advantage is any defective work eventually catches up with them, any failures or "technical difficulties" are their problem and if they won't fix it, they stop getting paid. If they have been paid everything already (which they have to be if not getting paid over the long term), its a nightmare to get them back. They will claim any issues are due to poor maintainance/another contractor/whatever, roll it all up and give it to one company and they can't avoid responsibility.

You can change the letters to any words you want but it's pretty childish. If private companies werent maintaining these things through the PPP, private companies would be maintaining them through separate contracts. The exact same companies would be doing the work regardless if PPP or not, the manufacturer or their local agent will do the maintenance. They need access to parts/software and experience of that system, handing that work to someone else would be madness. This applies to the trains themselves, lifts, escalators, trackside doors, ventilation systems, emergency systems, etc. etc. Moaning about private companies making a profit is just stupid, do you really think it would be better value for the taxpayer for TII to have their own direct employees for this and to negotiate access to the parts, software, etc.? (I assume you are not mad enough to think that they should develop their own version of all these things to avoid the private sector altogether!)