Re: Re: Dublin Airport Metro to have unconnected terminus?

I’ve just found a Dail transport committee debate where the RPA boss is asked why they are stopping the metro in the city centre. The answer seems to be that they plan to try to turn on the machine again years later when they have approval for a new line going somewhere like Kimmage. I reckon they’ll have to call in a conservationist and a technological archaeologist to get it working again. @joint transport committee wrote:

Frank Allen: It is reasonable to state that the continuation of the tunnel-boring machine for another two kilometres is not a major increment, but it is more than this. Describing this as a metro line to Cherrywood would not be accurate and would not reflect the concept we have of the degree of segregation. The location of the gated stations would require a considerable amount of work south of Beechwood.

We would make a decision in consultation with the contractor on whether to leave the tunnel boring machine in the ground. Often the machines are left underground as this is a cheaper option than extracting them. We see this north-south metro line as part of a longer development including an orbital metro line that would connect at St. Stephen’s Green, as envisaged in A Platform for Change. At that stage, it would be appropriate to use the tunnel-boring machine for a line in the direction of Kimmage.

We have described the proposal put to Government and the rationale of doing it on that scale. We concluded the scale was manageable. I note the suggestion that it be extended but these are the proposals before Government.

Deputy Eamon Ryan: If one leaves a machine in the ground, and it makes sense to continue boring in five or ten years time, is it possible to turn the machine on again?

Mr. Allen: Yes.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=TRJ20051027.xml&Node=H2&Page=4