ANDREW WARREN,
Sir, - It is John Henry that has missed the point in his metro link article (Opinion, August 22nd). What Dublin needs is fast, reliable, single-stop service with clock face timings every 15 minutes to and from the airport to the city centre. Luggage check-in facilities at the city-centre terminal are also essential. Something equivalent to the Heathrow or Gatwick Express is what Dublin deserves.
John Henry with his metro link is offering us the equivalent of the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow - where you had to fight your way onto the Tube with your luggage and usually stand for over an hour stopping at every station along the way.
Any robust cost benefit analysis would clearly show that the proposed Maynooth line spur is a much more viable option than the metro link, and it most definitely would be quicker to construct than the metro.
My suspicion is that the primary reason for pushing for the metro link to the airport is that without it the whole notion of the metro becomes unviable. Before any consideration is given to a metro, our existing heavy rail infrastructure should be maximised by constructing a tunnel between Heuston and Connolly stations. - Yours, etc.,
ANDREW WARREN,
Coolbawn,
Nenagh,
Co Tipperary.