Does Dublin need a Metro rail service?

74% YES 26% NO

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Your Reaction

• I am from Swords and definately think the area deserves a decent transport system. All other european cities have underground rail and it's about time we follow in their footsteps!
  Linda Carroll  Ireland
• It would be nice if Dublin had its own metro/subway. However, if Frank McDonald is right then "surface-running light rail lines" would be a better investment.
  Conor  Ireland
• Oh what a refreshing question! "Does Dublin need a metro". After living half my adult life amongst the Irish diasporia of continental Europe the word metro can only bring to mind images of punctuality, dinky little maps which are really only representational and bear little relation to the world overground. Of bright intercrossing lines which emit no pollution. But of course the London tube, Paris metro and my own local Barcelona metro have problems. Over here we debate the safety of extending 24 hour service 7 days a week. But really, like honestly and truly what tickles my delight :- is that for the first time a simple clear question is asked. None of the silliness of asking does Dublin need another vanity project with a farcical name. Not an "arrow, nor a "Luas" nor even a DART. Quite simply a "metro". Wonderful. I'm surprised nobody has asked why the old rail lines were dug up yet.
  iosaf mac diarmada  Spain
• What's wrong with buying a lot more buses, increasing the number and length of bus lanes and introducing a hefty conjestion charge? It seems to me that it would be cheap, quick and effective in moving large numbers on a city wide basis and would involve no disruption. The metro, in contrast, would be expensive, long-term, would only effect a small number of people and would cause huge disruption. That question was relevant ten years ago. Does it take over a decade for the penny to drop?
  tony leavy  Ireland
• Every rail service in Dublin is crammed like a sardine can in rush hour as commuters have realised that the Luas, DART and commuter rail offer the only way to beat the gridlock of car and bus on the city streets. Dublin needs the metro to make it possible to move around the city in a reasonable amount of time. It should be built now, along with the DART interconnector, to serve the huge demand for fast, efficient, public transport.
  Fergal  Ireland
• It's not a quetion of if, it's a question of when. Here in singapore the metro is amazing, to give you an idea of how good and handy the service is..... i live as far out from the city as swords to Dublin, i use the service every day all times of day and night and i have never waited over 5 mins for a train. in rush hour they are every 2 mins!!!.
  mick  Singapore
• No, we don't need a bloody metro. We already have wasted an astronomic amount of money on the Luas when all that was required was a few cans of paint and a brush to draw white bus lanes all over the city, with buses running every five minutes. There is an existing bus lane running to the airport. Why not fill it up with buses and use the much-needed, extra cash spared in our run-down hospital service. Do the lunatics who have made this proposal realise we are in a recesion?
  CJH  Antarctica
• The luas works - what's wrong with building more lines? Ballymun was designed to allow luas to run down the centre of the roads, but we want to build another separate transport system. Build a luas on the same route for a quarter of the cost and then use the rest of the money to build more overground light rail and tram lines. Forget about the egotistical suggestion of running underground.
  Eoin  Ireland
• Dublin certainly (and urgently) needs to have an efficient and integrated transport system. However, I don't think a full underground "heavy-rail" system is really required for a metropolitan area of just 1.5 million. A good reference for Dublin is the "minimetro" (automated, driverless, shorter carriages) system in Copenhagen (1.8 million population in metropolitan area).
  Waikeen  Ireland
• online readers of "Head2Head" might enjoy a quick visit to the pages of urbanrail. The site started in Germany gathers together maps of existing metro lines the world over and has a specially reserved section for Dublin. Wherein you may enjoy a "Harry Beck style" schematic representation of both Dublin and her curvacious bay and the intercrossing coloured network of her splendidly and most sensibly named tram and rail lines as well as the airport metro. http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/dub/dublin.htm So in a sense the cyber train spotters of Europe have already charted the Metro. We might save a fortune by pretending it's already been built...... we just forgot where we sank the station entrances. ;-)
  iosaf mac diarmada  Spain