We're going underground

Planners give the green light for €11BN train service

- DANNY DE VAAL

THE long-awaited MetroLink project, which will connect Dublin Airport to Dublin City Centre, was finally given the green light yesterday.

Planning was granted by An Coimisiun Pleanala, which paves the way for an 18.8km rail line.

It will consist of a fully segregated railway, most of which will be underground, running from north of Swords to Charlemont in the south of Dublin.

The route will include 16 stations and serve multiple residential communities such as Swords, Ballymun and Glasnevin, as well as the city centre, Dublin Airport, and major employment, education, transport and other centres. When operations commence, it is envisioned trains will run every three minutes during peak periods.

This could rise to a service every 90 seconds by 2060 with the system capable of carrying up to 20,000 passengers per hour in each direction.

The journey time from Swords to the city centre will be 25 minutes.

The project is set to cost €11 billion, but some estimate it could be significantly more.