Transport 21 - Metro North

Project Title	Metro North

Project Description	Using underground, surface and elevated tracks, Metro North was originally designed to run from St Stephen's Green, via Dublin Airport, to Belinstown, north of Swords. In the railway order (planning permission) for the project which was granted in October 2010, An Bord Pleanála determined that the route should terminate at the proposed Estuary Stop in Swords. The route of Metro North will therefore be 16.5kms long and have 14 stops for passengers who want to make journeys to and from the city centre. These stops will be at St Stephen's Green, O'Connell Bridge, Parnell Square, Mater Hospital, Drumcondra, Griffith Avenue, Dublin City University, Ballymun, Northwood, Dardistown, Dublin Airport, Fosterstown, Swords, and Estuary. An estimated 34 million passengers a year will travel on Metro North. Services will initially operate every five minutes at peak times but the system is designed to operate an ultimate peak service of every two minutes as demand builds up. Journey time from St Stephen's Green to Dublin Airport will be approximately 20 minutes and to Swords, 25 minutes. Metro North will be a significant step in the creation of an integrated public transport system for Dublin. It will link together all of the existing rail corridors in Dublin, by interchanging with the DART, the northern, north-western and south-eastern suburban rail lines, and the Luas Red and Green lines and bus services along the route.
	Click here to download map of Metro North St. Stephen’s Green to Estuary as an Adobe PDF document (3MB).
Projected Completion Date	The completion date is contingent on the outcome of the statutory planning process and the procurement and contract award processes.
Current Status of Project	Metro North is a PPP project and bidders will be asked to tender for the design, build, funding, maintenance and operation of the line. In February 2009 four bidding consortia submitted their first round tenders for the PPP contract for Metro North to the RPA. The consortia are a mix of international and Irish companies. These submissions were evaluated by the RPA and in June 2009 the latter announced that it had shortlisted two bidding consortia, Celtic Metro Group and Metro Express, to proceed to the final stage of the PPP procurement process. In September 2008 the RPA submitted its application for a railway order to An Bord Pleanála in respect of the Metro North project and on 28 October 2010 the Board granted a Railway Order, subject to conditions, to the RPA. One of the conditions requires the RPA to re-apply to An Bord Pleanála for a further railway order in respect of a re-located depot in the vicinity of Dardistown. The RPA is currently preparing the application documents, including an EIS, for this further railway order.
Link	http://www.rpa.ie/en/projects/metro_north/Pages/default.aspx

Last updated: 18/02/2011