Basic stations planned to keep cost of metro line to €4.58bn

The Irish Times

Underground stations with bare concrete walls, no canopies over entrances, no escalators from street to concourse levels and fewer ticket machines are among the "value engineering" elements of the planned Dublin metro line linking St Stephen's Green with Swords. According to documents released belatedly under the Freedom of Information Act, the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) said these "trade-offs" were needed to cut the capital cost of the project to €4.58 billion - an estimate cited in one letter dated July 8th, 2005. Though all monetary figures in every document were blacked out to maintain strict confidentiality surrounding the metro project, it is possible to discern on close inspection that the overall cost of this 17km line was estimated by the RPA at €4.58 billion in 2004.

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