I recall seeing a map of the plan and it didn’t seem to link up with any mainline services, glad that’s been addressed. Which stations? Pearse? Connolly? I think Tara Street was on the plan I saw but that’s not really much use for anyone travelling outside of Dublin.
But I guess a few areas that are Luas adjacent would be good. Need good signposts though if a tourist gets off in o Connell street, finding the red line Luas can be tricky, I often have to redirect them from the green line Luas stop outside the GPO.
And driverless is cool. Works well on the DLR, although it’s driverless it’s not staffless but it’s easier to train security and ticket checking than train driving. I love sitting in the front of the train there.
Your statement;
And another tram/train line that doesn’t link up with existing services is not needed.
I see because you showed ignorance, now you're trying to wiggle out of that and talk about "mainline" rail.
For the record, Sligo mainline will likely end up stopping at the new station at Cross Guns (along with TWO DART lines) along with existing Tara services.
No single rail service is going to link up with every service out there. To be clear on Metrolink, its purpose is not to ferry people from outside of Dublin to the airport. It is a Dublin Metro service primarily.
The purpose of Metrolink is;
1. Provide high capacity and rapid transit on a N-S basis through the city core, from the Phibsborough to Charlemount. This is not in place in Dublin currently and significantly limits the potential of the city core
2. Provides one stop interconnection of three of Ireland's universities with 2 Luas lines (three once Lucan is complete) and 3 /4 DART lines, along with direct connections for basically every bus service in the city.
3. Provides the same for the Mater Hospital
4. Provides the same for Dublin Airport
5. Opens up significant development potential in North County Dublin, transforming commutes of an hour to 20 minutes. This directly links Ireland's largest urban area (Swords) with zero existing rail link to the system
6. Removes significant constraints on our bus services. The "bus will do" brigade can tell us why it is that Dublin has more bus drivers than significantly larger European cities and how that is sustainable?
7. Allows for the removal of some through services from the city centre in time, as people will be able to undertake the aforementioned one change connection with Metrolink. This can dramatically improve Dublin City Centre as it currently is clogged with not just cars, but buses looking to cross the Liffey
8. The one change connection with something like the DART provides incredible opportunities for tourism in Dublin. Hotels along the coast will be licking their lips as they immediately come into view for tourists who want easy transit to areas.
All of these benefits also work in the opposite direction. So even UCD who will now be the only Dublin University not connected to rail will have a broader reach of people. Live in Ballymun? Get Metrolink and connect with another mode in the city to get to UCD at a significantly reduced time. Need a scan at Vincents? Same thing by linking in at Tara to the DART to Sydney Parade. Ditto the NCH...ditto anything.
And in terms of the "outside of Dublin" brigade, there'll be P&R facilities added in and you can also expect all intercity bus services to adjust their timetables accordingly once this is in place. Bus Áras as is is not the only Dublin stop for many service.
Michael O'Leary is not wrong in that a great many Dublin Airport passengers will still not use Metrolink, but he doesn't have a scooby doo on what the Metrolink is actually for. It's the most transformative project we'll see since Ardnacrusha.
€20bn for a 100+ year service that provides the above economic and QOL benefits is a no brainer and only an extremely disingenuous person denies it once the actual facts are laid out. This is not a Western Rail corridor boondoggle.
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