Details of the proposed metro rail link between Swords and Dublin city centre are to be outlined at MetroLink project’s first oral hearing.
An Bord Pleanála hearing is expected to last five weeks for discussion on the MetroLink issues before a planning decision is made.
The proposal includes a high-capacity metro railway from Swords to Charlemont in 25 minutes. It will use driverless trains and transport 20,000 passengers per hour.
Plans are for 16 new stations, mostly underground: The stops have been named Estuary, Seatown, Swords Central, Fosterstown, Dublin Airport, Dardistown, Northwood, Ballymun, Collins Avenue, Griffith Park, Glasnevin, Mater, O’Connell Street, Tara, St Stephen’s Green and Charlemont.
The MetroLink will connect key destination including Mater and Rotunda Hospitals, Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin and link with Dublin Airport, Irish Rail, DART, Dublin Bus and Luas services.
The project will also involve the construction of a new 99m long bridge over the M50 and a 260m long viaduct over the Broadmeadow and Ward River.
Construction work is to commence in 2025, with an opening year of 2035; estimated cost around €9.5bn.
Around €300m has been spent on Dublin’s various Metro projects sicne Metro North was first mooted in 2002.
The plans include demolition of the College Gate apartment block and Townsend Street houses in Dublin city centre and the adjoining Markievicz leisure centre and swimming pool to build a Metro station at Tara Street.
The 200-year-old pub Brian Boru pub in Glasnevin, which is referenced in James Joyce’s Ulysses, will also be demolished. In all, 29 buildings and four roadway footbridges will be removed and sports pitches at five locations moved or replaced.
MetroLink runs for 19km between Estuary, outside Swords in north Dublin to Charlemont, close to Ranelagh in south Dublin, with 11.7km underground. It has 16 stations and interchanges with Irish Rail, Dart, Luas and Dublin Bus services.
A station and park-and-ride facility with 3,000 parking spaces is planned at Swords Estuary,
The line then travels by viaduct over the Ward and Broadmeadow rivers and continues overground, serving three stations until it reaches Dublin Airport where it goes into a tunnel.
It surfaces at the next stop, Dardistown, where the maintenance depot will be located, and then continues by bridge over the M50 to Northwood.
From there, it goes underground and remains tunnelled all the way to and through Dublin city centre until the final stop at Charlemont.
Trains would run every 90 seconds at peak times, travelling between Swords and the city centre in 25 minutes and between the airport and the city centre in 20 minutes.
