The Property Valuer16

With work on Metro North still scheduled to start in 2012, butDART Underground to be postponed due to cutbacks identifiedin the Government’s National Recovery Plan, the opportunitymust be grasped to re-evaluate the relative merits of bothprojects writes Alice Charles of Planning and TransportationConsultants Colin Buchanan.

The current ”‘first up best dressed” position taken by theGovernment in light of Metro North recently receiving aRailway Order from an Bord Pleanála, is another example of thestate failing to strategically plan and effectively evaluate publictransport infrastructure provision in the Capital.

As confirmed by Budget 2011, Metro North will proceed to‘advance works’ stage next year, but is still subject to finalCabinet funding approval. The DART Underground projectwill proceed through the planning phase but will have nofunding allocated for any construction or enabling works phasesbefore 2014.

Observing the time period taken by the Board in reaching adecision in granting permission for the Metro North Project, aRailway Order for DART Underground should be forthcomingin late 2011. On reaching this stage, it is now generally assumedthat the DART Underground project will then be shelved fortwo to three years on foot of current exchequer difficulties.

However, the current crisis in government finances may beviewed as an opportunity to take stock of the strategic andeconomic benefits of both projects. With the conditionsattached to the recent granting of the Railway Order by theBoard, there is evidence to suggest that the timescales for bothprojects could converge over the coming years.

The Board’s decision in respect of Metro North to exclude thedepot, stop and park and ride facility at Belinstown, the stop atLissenhall and to seek the relocation of the proposed depot toDardistown, south of the Airport (presumed eventually to be ashared facility in the event of the development of Metro West)allows breathing space in which the DART Undergroundproposal has the potential to reach an enabling works stagewithin a broadly similar timeframe.

The shortening of the Metro North route, via the axing of partsof the proposed commuter catchment, must influenceassumptions made pertaining to overall passenger numberscontained within the project’s Redacted Business Case publishedin July 2010. Therefore the assumptions underpinning theproject’s cost/benefit analysis should be the subject of acomprehensive review.

It is evident from the decision of the Board that it hadreservations about the ability of the route, as proposed, to

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Winter 2010 17

function effectively as a rapid transit service for Airport users atpeak hours if the line extended beyond Swords. Assumptionsregarding the potential development of lands and thesubsequent economic benefits accruing to the Metro NorthEconomic Corridor included in its Business Case must also becalled into question.

The potential to regroup and fine-tune the whole Project shouldalso be viewed in the context of the forthcoming TransportInfrastructure Ireland Bill 2011, which makes legislativeprovision for the merger of the National Roads Authority andthe Railway Procurement Agency.

In combination, these factors have the potential to allow for amore focussed strategic review of all proposed rail projects inthe Greater Dublin Area and their relative merits. In an idealscenario all major public transportprojects should proceed intandem, but in the event thatprioritisation of projects isrequired, there is a strong case forDART Underground becomingthe primary investment focus from2013 onwards.

The call for the effectiveprioritisation of DARTUnderground and other connective Light Rail projects over thestandalone Metro North as envisaged by the currentGovernment stance, is echoed by a recent Mid-Term review ofthe Transport 21 Programme undertaken on behalf of theChartered Institute of Logistics and Transport by ProfessorAustin Smyth, a leading UK based Transport Consultant. Thisreport states that under current economic conditionsand Government funding constraints, priority needs to be givenin the short-term to seeking to maximise economic growth byensuring construction of DART Underground and the LuasCross-City BXD line as centrepieces of a conurbation-wide railnetwork.

This report emphasises the superior Business Case and WiderEconomic Benefits inherent in DART Underground. Itconsiders the project to be the key to unlocking capacity onother routes and if necessary by other modes, which is anintrinsic element of the project.

The Business case for Dart Underground identifies the project ashaving ‘exceptional’ benefits in relation to its costs if land usepolicies complement the application process. This should beviewed in the context of the recently adopted Dublin CityDevelopment Plan 2011-2017, in particular the potential withinthe Plan to deliver revised statutory land use plans for the keyeastern and western poles of the interconnector at the Docklands

and Heuston station and the identification of Connolly stationas a location for medium-high rise building clusters.

Moving out from central Dublin, the potential benefits areevident from delivering a large improvement in rail accessibilityto the city centre from a wide catchment area as there will bebenefits for each of the four rail corridors radiating from the citycentre.

The positive effects on all existing services, the potential forgreater modal interchange across all forms of public transportand the far greater passenger capacity deliverable for asignificantly lower capital outlay than that of Metro North,should be the key influencing factors on any decision to be takenon progressing major rail projects by the incomingadministration in the Spring of 2011.

With Budget 2011 inevitablycontaining little to cheer aboutbeyond vague commitments tocapital investment in publictransport, the opportunity shouldbe grasped to implement a fullstrategic review of the mediumterm objectives of DARTUnderground, Metro North andmooted extensions to the Luasnetwork, in order to effectivelycommit what limited exchequer

resources will be available over the next four years to advancingeach respective project to its appropriate milestone while weawait an upturn in the state’s economic fortunes.

A ‘catch-up’ approach should be employed for 2011/2012 toallow DART Underground to reach a similar footing to MetroNorth in the project delivery process. This would allow for a re-examination of the proposed funding mechanisms that are tobe employed by both the RPA and Iarnród Éireann under thePublic Private Partnership model.

Budget 2011 has flagged that the National Pensions ReserveFund (NPRF) is willing to invest in Irish infrastructure assetson a commercial basis in partnership with third partyinstitutional investors. The Government has committed tofinding opportunities for the NPRF and other private investors.

With the above in mind, it would prove prudent for all majorrail projects to be allowed to reach the same stage ofimplementation over the next 18 months, so that a criticalappraisal of all capital investment in public transport may beundertaken to shape the distribution of what limited fundingwill be available in a manner not shown in the Transport 21investment programme.

Alice Charles is an Associate Director Planner in Colin Buchanan’sDublin Office. www.colinbuchanan.com