Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

They are called the metro south west group, the name alone should make it obvious anything they say or do is will be propaganda.

the last thing the metro needs is people trying to change the route. It needs building and any kind of change will delay it by years. I’m sure everyone agrees the southwest of Dublin needs something, nobody needs that pointed out.

I hope abp see these objections for what they are. The last we need is drawn out review periods because vested interests are trying to scupper the current plans. The current route allows for upgrades towards the south. By all means build a metro sw but it should be a stand alone route and nothing to do with the current Metrolink plans.

There are pros and cons to each system. Luas costs as little as 10-20% versus Metro for comparable distances, however Luas is low capacity and slow versus Metro.

The biggest advantage Luas offers versus the bus is efficiency and reliability, but we shouldn't act like Luas is a replacement for Metro.

In light of Metrolink, Phoenix Park Tunnel, Dart+ and Bus Connects, Dublin needs a new master plan. We'll finally have a baseline network to build on, which we didn't with previous master plans.

Does anybody have any indication whether bikes will be allowed? I’d imagine yes if it’s following the Copenhagen metro as a template but it’s Ireland…

Where else could you build the station? I don't disagree, perhaps a site in the centre of O'CONNEL St outside the GPO would be better for connections. Tbh at this stage I'd just want it built as proposed. 5 min walk isn't that bad, far harder connections on metro systems across Europe.

Passage de gracia in Barcelona is worse

I regularly had a 600 metre walk through Chatelet Les Halles in Paris back in the day to connect.

Further back in time I used to swap between London tube lines in (I think) Piccadilly and whilst sadly I didn't measure it, it was 'long corridor, two escalators and another long corridor'.

Now they did at least have the advantage of being covered so not prone to the elements, but the metro/red-line actual distance doesn't strike me anything untoward.

Genuinely not sure of the point you are making brian89?

I think it might be that because CLH has so many different lines converging on one station, that having to do 500 metre+ connections is to be expected, and that by comparison the green/red/metro connection should be shorter as far fewer lines. Fair point if that's what you are saying.

My point would remain though that the actual distance really isn't unusual (there were claims it was). It's clearly not ideal, but lets not allow 'perfect be the enemy of good' here.

The location of the stop on O'Connell Street is dictated by the station location at Tara Street where it connects with the DART. There is a tight enough track curve to make it from Tara to O'Connell Street. A metro train can only turn so quickly.

If you look back at the emerging preferred route where the metro station was in the middle of O'Connell Street the southern end of the station was at the Gresham Hotel with the entrance outside the Holiday Inn hotel north of Cathal Brugha Street. That had a ~505m connection for the above ground section from the metro stop to the Luas Red Line at Abbey Street.

With the Preferred Route the O'Connell Street station was moved under the Carlton site, mostly to reduce disruption to the Luas and buses on OCS for 2-3 years to build the station. Moving the station west of OCS actually makes the curve easier from Tara allowing TII to move the location further south closer to the Red Line. However, the entrance to the station is at the north end (for some reason – it may be a very good reason that we don't know about). The walking connection above ground from the proposed station to the Luas Red Line at Abbey Street is ~475m.

Here's a rough image of the EPR with the proposed final station location overlaid:

The final option is better but could be improved with a relocated entrance on the MetroLink station. In theory ~400m is possible. You could shave maybe a minute of walking time off doing that. If you want to see a better connection between the Red Line and MetroLink then stick in a submission to An Bord Pleanála asking them to change the design to include a new entrance closer to the Luas Red Line in the OCS MetroLink station. You have until 25th November to do so.