Re: Re: transport21
@markpb wrote:
I’ll state openly that I believe Metro North is a good idea because it opens lots of new areas of Dublin to rail. I think that’s fundamentally more important that improving existing services because a network isn’t a network if it covers a tiny part of the city. The MN route also integrates lots of the Dart, Suburban and Luas lines helping to improve the network. Upgrades of Dart and lines to the airport achieve neither of this.
Metro North does not intergrate anything; it intersects with Dart Interconnector (once Interconnector isn’t shelved because of the opportunity cost of Metro) the Maynooth line and two currently seperate Luas lines. It is to all intents and purposes a stand alone network as no routing combinations are delivered unlike Interconnector which like Cross Rail in London joins two seperate rail systems (3 in the case of Cross Rail)
Luas to Ballymun at a cost of c€54m a mile (Luas BX) would produce exacxtly the same level of intersectability but would unlike Metro North actually intergrate the new line with two existing systems; a far superior outcome for the City Section. For the Airport a new Express Dart could be done for €400m and for Swords c€200m would removing Darts reversing in Malahide and extend their route to Swords giving the Pavillions their extension and the town their commuter service; the only losers being the people in Malahide who will no longer have first oportunity on the seats.
@markpb wrote:
However, my main problem with your suggestion is that you keep comparing an (already overcrowded) airport branch serving nothing else with the metro line serving the Green luas line, the south city centre, the Red luas line, the north city centre, the Rotunda, Mater Misericordiae, Drumcondra, the Maynooth and PPT lines, Whitehall, Glasnevin, DCU, Ballymun, (potentially) Metro West, the airport and Swords. Oranges and apples doesn’t even come close!
All of the destinations you have quoted excluding Metro North are claimed by the promoter to have a total annual passenger demand of 23m per annum; given that the financing alone will run to €100m a year the base subsidy per passenger assuming fares cover day to day costs would be €4.35 for every passenger journey. That assumes that the recession doesn’t undermine those predictions.
Metro West will not happen for at least 25 years and to be honest using those alignment for Dart extensions to Tallaght and Porterstown makes a lot more sense.
@markpb wrote:
Have you got anywhere to back up those figures or are they your own estimates?
The basis on all estimates is the Pace extension at a cost of €160m for 7.5kms and €54m per mile on Luas based on the BX extension; both of these are totally up to date comparisons; I used question marks because they are uncosted as Dart.
http://www.meathchronicle.ie/articles/1/33012
DjangoD – love it! http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0902/economy.html
