Infrastructure costs

Well at least he is questioning these things rather than blindly accepting them – more that can be said for most of them

Paraic White, chairman of the Railway Procurment Agency (in charge of planning of LUAS & Metro etc) was speaking for a good half hour on Today with Pat Kenny this morning, explaining quite credibly the 4/4.5 billion or so proposed cost of the metro, and the disparity with Barcelona etc.

For a start, the actual cost of it’s construction and land acquisition is 1.7 billion. The remaining 2/3 billion or so is a vast contingency fund, as well as covering other elements. These being insurance, VAT, inflation, the value for money over the 9 years of construction, spiralling property values and a myriad of other costs.

The figures touted for Barcelona exclude land aqusition costs (suffice to say a major element),& the equivilant of their local authority designed it themselves, and then commisioned, thus saving 100s of millions here alone.

He also quite openly said that labour costs and constuction costs are substantilly higher here than in Spain of elsewhere.

Above all, and most importantly, he says this is an absolute, consise, and realistic projected cost of the Metro, including every concievable contingency and potential problem. For once he says, a State body is accuratly predicting the cost of a major project, and is hopeful that as a result it may actually come in under budget.

He was higly credible and practical throughout the interview, no crap, and was incitefully interviewed by Pat. Well worth a listen, audio download available on the RTE website. (first item on programme)

I was going to say that … but then I thought isn’t it a tunnel from St Stephens Green to Broadstone and then overland to the Airport? Even so, €1.7 billion seems very excessive for land aquistion outside of the city centre.

Also Graham, I would expect Mr White to sound reasonable and credible in interview as it is job to put across a prfessional face to the RPA but that still doesnt make his protestations any more believable. I am sure construction costs are not that much higher than in Spain (Common Market and all that..) and how does he know that this is the final final figure. Rather than talking of contingency funds he should be agreeing a budget and then ensuring that the project comes in on budget.

The aquisition costs are for the substantial overground part from Broadstone to the Airport.

The reality is that labour & materials are much more expensive here, regardless of the open market, and are much higher than Spain, being on the mainland & all that.

It is’nt so much a contingency fund (although that has been built in), but rather a fund for the huge, vast amounts that are required for everything other than physicaly laying tracks and tunneling, absolutely none of which are included in Barcelona’s figures. Also, the lack of any history of tunneling under Dublin city causes many problems, esp around the Liffey.

They are simple facts he laid out, and I don’t doubt anything he said for a second.
Unfortunate of course. I’ll keep an open mind on the subject.

they don’t need to buy land all the way from broadstone to the airport, there is already a cutting isn’t there heading north.

IT was Brennan himself who said the thing about the land underground

The current (Phoenix Pk) link between Heuston and Connolly doesn’t have the capacity to be used on a regular basis – I presume thats why its only used for big matches.
It also is aligned in such a way that trains can’t halt at Heuston and then continue on to Connolly. IMO people don’t generally see the benefits that a new (underground) link would bring.

In Brussels they built an underground link between their two main stations (North and South). All tains that go through Brussels now go through both of those stations AND the newer Central station. This means that for people coming into the city from other towns and cities (ie not residents/commuters) they don’t need to get onto the metro/tram system because they simply choose the appropriate mainline station.

In Dublin, all intercity passengers have to get off at Connolly or Heuston regardless if their ultimate destination is the other part of the city. Everyone knows what happens at Heuston – you get off the train, then wait for the (crowded) bus to take you to where you really want to go – THE CITY CENTRE. Why???

LUAS, while it will serve its own purpose well, is not the answer to this – imagine what problems we’ll have at Heuston when loads of intercity passengers try to get on the tram which is already full of commuters!

If instead we had an underground interconnector (and a Central Station between H + C, also underground, as in Brussels) not only could we distribute the intercity passengers among three stations appropriate to their needs, but we could also have through trains (eg Cork-Dub-Belfast, Waterford-Dub-Sligo) allowing people who don’t want to wade through Dublin’s commuters to get a connecting train on the other side of the city, the opportunity to do so!