Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 July 2017
1386. Deputy Darragh O'Brien asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the status of the provision of metro north from Dublin city centre to Lissenhall and Swords in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35977/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra1416. Deputy Darragh O'Brien asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when the construction of metro north will commence; the timeframe for construction; the target completion date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36587/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1386 and 1416 together.
Over the period to 2022, funding of over €700 million has been allocated under the Government's Capital Plan for planning, design and commencing construction of new Metro North. Funding in the initial years of the Capital Plan is for planning and design work with construction expected to commence in 2021 with a view to delivering the project by 2026/2027. The Programme for Partnership Government commits to proceeding with the New Metro North project.
The decision to proceed with new Metro North followed consideration of the Fingal/North Dublin Transport Study and the National Transport Authority's (NTA) recommendations on the study, which identified the light-rail link as the optimum long term public transport solution on the Swords/airport/city centre corridor. It is expected that the service will offer capacity for 9,900 passengers per hour per direction with the potential to expand services in the future if demand requires.
The NTA and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) have commenced preparatory work on the planning and design of new Metro North and a dedicated project Steering Group has been established which is meeting on a regular basis. The NTA, in collaboration with TII, is undertaking an option analysis and selection study of possible metro alignments and station locations. Arising from this work a final route and station configuration will be established. It is my understanding that the NTA and TII expect that this process will be complete by the end of 2017, after which a public consultation process will be undertaken in 2018.
