{"id":38949,"date":"2025-09-02T16:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T16:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/38949\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T16:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T16:14:08","slug":"consortium-of-five-international-companies-to-bid-for-metrolink-project-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/38949\/","title":{"rendered":"Consortium of five international companies to bid for MetroLink project \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A consortium of five international companies is to bid for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of Dublin\u2019s MetroLink<\/a> project.<\/p>\n

If approved, construction of the 18.8\u202fkm mostly underground MetroLink should begin between 2028 and 2031, with services between Swords, Dublin Airport, Dublin city centre, and on to Charlemont just south of the centre opening in early 2035.<\/p>\n

The five companies are Spanish construction group FCC; French asset manager Meridiam; British infrastructure investor John Laing; French transport operator RATP Dev; and French rail company Alstom.<\/p>\n

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to formally establish the consortium.<\/p>\n

They described MetroLink as an \u201cunprecedented transport project\u201d for Ireland intended to improve connectivity, reduce congestion and enhance sustainability. <\/p>\n

The fully automated, driverless metro system will connect major transport hubs and key destinations in the Greater Dublin Area and offer a direct rail connection between Dublin city centre and its airport for the first time.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Dublin Chamber backs MetroLink plansOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The consortium said it brings together \u201cleading expertise\u201d across infrastructure development, automated metro operation and maintenance, financing and engineering, and has \u201cin-depth knowledge\u201d of Dublin and its transport system.<\/p>\n

It said it will collaborate on preparing and submitting a proposal for MetroLink and that it is now preparing for the pre-qualification and bidding phases. <\/p>\n

\"\"Why is the delivery of vital infrastructure so slow in Ireland?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe group\u2019s composition ensures a strong combination of metro leadership, technical capability, project management experience, operational excellence and financial strength, essential for delivering a program of this scale and complexity,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

It is proposed FCC would lead the civil engineering aspects, while Alstom and RATP Dev would provide operational and maintenance expertise. <\/p>\n

Meridiam and John Laing, meanwhile, have come on board to provide \u201cfinancial acumen and long-term investment capabilities\u201d, the group said.<\/p>\n

Ram\u00f3n G\u00f3mez, managing director at FCC, said the company has \u201cextensive international experience\u201d in the design, construction and financing of large-scale international railway infrastructures in Doha, Riyadh, Madrid, Barcelona, Panama, Lisbon, Lima, Malaga, and Toronto. <\/p>\n

It also has experience in major civil engineering and industrial projects in Ireland where it developed the M50 motorway and the N6 in Galway. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Depicting MetroLink as primarily an airport service is an example of Michael O\u2019Leary\u2019s myopic thinkingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Other projects it has worked on include the expansion of industrial infrastructure at Dublin Airport, and the extension of the North Runway.<\/p>\n

Romain Limousin, deputy chief operations officer Europe at Meridiam, said the company currently manages major light rail transit systems in Italy, the UK, and Canada, and is soon to add the United States to that list.<\/p>\n

Andrew Truscott, chief executive of John Laing, said a key point for the consortium would be to ensure the project is delivered with \u201clong-term value for the public\u201d.<\/p>\n

Kristin Thorslund, senior vice-president for Nordics and Ireland at RATP Dev, said the company is currently engaged in five major greenfield automated metro projects in Paris, Sydney, Singapore, Riyadh and Doha.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams are recognised for successfully delivering complex metro projects such as the seamless launch of Riyadh\u2019s first-ever metro lines and public transport network,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Piers Wood, managing director Ireland at Alstom, said the consortium represents \u201can ideal mix of technical expertise, operational know-how and financial strength\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A consortium of five international companies is to bid for the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17,4852],"class_list":{"0":"post-38949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-metrolink"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}