Minister to meet German firms on light rail plan

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen is to meet German business interests over bidding for projects in Transport 21, in Dublin on Monday.

The group, which is being hosted by the German Irish Chamber of Commerce, is understood to include representatives of Siemens and other major companies interested in building Dublin's new light rail and metro lines.

The participants will be welcomed to Ireland by the German ambassador, Christian Pauls, tomorrow and on Monday will meet representatives of the Railway Procurement Agency, Irish Rail, the National Roads Authority and Dublin Bus.

They will meet Mr Cullen for explanatory talks before briefings with potential Irish partners at the Berkeley Court Hotel. The visit will end with a reception in the German embassy.

The visit comes as Mr Cullen is under increasing pressure to put the airport metro's Ballymun section underground - adding considerably to the estimated €3.5 billion cost.

Citing commercial sensitivity from the public/private partnership financing mechanism, Mr Cullen has refused to say how much the metro project will cost.

In 2003 estimates of a cost of €4.8 billion for a light rail link serving Dublin airport provoked protests from politicians and commentators who felt the price was too high.

It subsequently emerged that European underground metros could be built for about €100 million per kilometre excluding stations, which were priced at €100 million each on average.

On this basis the Dublin metro north would cost €1.7 billion for the line and €1.5 billion for the stations.

Enhanced stations such as that at O'Connell Bridge with its access to Abbey Street would be more expensive as would the interchange with Irish Rail below St Stephen's Green. Additional costs would have to be factored in for the Drumcondra interchange with suburban rail. This would produce a cost in the region of some €3.5 billion.

However, the project includes running the metro at surface level through Ballymun a factor which is being strongly resisted by local politicians and likely to become a general election issue.

The Railway Procurement Agency has estimated the additional cost of putting the metro underground in Ballymun could be as much as €400 million. This would push the cost of the project towards €4 billion.