Paul Hosford: Another year, another Metro announcement for Dublin

At Tuesday's Metrolink announcement, a figure of anywhere between €7.1bn and €12.1bn was mooted. Picture: Julien Behal

"It's like deja-vu, all over again."

The words of New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra seemed to ring around the Italian Room of Government Buildings as yet another Metro announcement for Dublin was made

This one, the ministers present said, is for keeps. This time, Eamon Ryan said, Dublin will get a metro system. The question, after two decades in transport limbo, is whether this is the metro which was promised or even one which will be worth the billions set to be spent on it?

In 2018, the MetroNorth project was rebranded as Metrolink and the "emerging preferred route" was launched. This would see a high-speed train able to run north to south of the city in 50 minutes, linking with the Luas. 

However, arguments over a "Checkpoint Charlie" in Ranelagh, splitting the town in two, mean that any notion of the Metro going further south than Charlemont Street in the south city, are shelved for now.

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At the launch of that route, the plan was tagged with a cost of €3bn. On Tuesday, a figure of anywhere between €7.1bn and €12.1bn was mooted. Most accept it will be in the middle of that figure, closer to €9bn, though Eamon Ryan is confident it could be on the lower end. Even on the higher end, Mr Ryan said it would be value for money and will take thousands of cars off the road.

Asked to explain how a shorter, less integrated version of the Metrolink could cost as much as four times more, it was accepted that the original figure was probably fanciful and never accounted for contingencies around inflation or delays. 

This time, it was said, the business case is strong, the numbers have been checked and rechecked and the engineering is done. We are all systems go, kind of. Because it won't actually be until 2025 that contracts are awarded and the project doesn't yet have an indicative finish date. At present, the date is "early 2030s".

Mr Ryan hinted that while the Metro may not continue south to the Luas line, a future spur to the southwest of the city is possible, potentially bringing the likes of Terenure, Ballyboden, Knocklyon, and Firhouse onto the line.

Problems

But, even then, problems with the plan remain. While a large part of the plan revolves around linking Dublin Airport to the city, it would be generous to say that the current version meets the EU goal of having all major gateway airports linked to the national rail line. 

For example, even with the Metro line, a passenger from Cork looking to get to Dublin Airport would, under current services, have two options. One, get a train to Newbridge, switch to a Grand Canal Dock train there, get off at the proposed Glasnevin station and change to the Metro. 

Two is to stay on the train as far as Heuston, get the Luas to Abbey Street and walk the couple of minutes to the O'Connell Street Metro.

The other is that this will, with buses, trains, DART and Luas services, add a fifth type of transport to a sprawling city which has numerous populous outer suburbs but doesn't really link any of them.

In the room, there was stubborn adamance that the Metro will be done, alongside a rake of other rail projects. But many veterans of the Metro announcement ritual will wait until they are on a train to believe it.