Any planned new rail system should be routed with multiple numbers of points of interchange with existing public transport nodes, in particular those that coincide with high capacity suburban and regional/national transport nodes.
The new route chosen for Metro North is welcome to the extent that departs from the original publicised route and will now coincide with Drumcondra station serving the Maynooth suburban line (planned Greystones-Maynooth DART)
As previously publicised, the fact that it will also concide with the new interconnector at St. Stephens Green linking with the Kildare suburban line (planned Balbriggan-Hazelhatch Dart) and will have direct links with both Red and Green Luas is welcome but nothing more than one would expect from a planned network.
It is my view however that the route should interchange directly with the DART at Tara Street DART Station which is the busiest suburban rail station in Dublin.
Given that a direct single station interchange appears to be off the agenda, a second best approach could be simply achieved by routing an underground pedestrian tunnel between the new 'landmark' underground station' at O' Connell Bridge to an area within the curtilage of Tara Street Station allowing interchange in relative comfort and with minimal 'perceived' distance between the points of interchange. This is the approach that appears to have been adopted with the pedestrian tunnel to the Luas at Abbey Street.
A clearly delineated foot passage between O'Connell Bridge station and Tara Street Dart would make interchange more comfortable for Irish passengers and international visitors and further incentivise public transport over private.
Rail travel experience in London, New York, Munich, Frankfort, Berlin, Toronto, Montreal is made simple by ease of interchange between international/suburban/metro/underground/tram with frequent direct foot passages between routes even where there are relatively significant distances between them (between 400 and 600m). The perception is that the lines are relatively close as you are not subjected to 'surfacing' amongst shoppers etc. If opportunities for interchange are not made easy and comfort within stations is not maximised, the optimisation of passenger numbers and full benefits of our investment will not be achieved.
Where maximum distances between Metro and rail or Metro and DART interchanges are of the order of maximum 3/400m by foot and are clearly delineated by underground tunnel from within DART/Rail/Metro/Luas stations highest passenger usage between services will be achieved.
