Even though this is cheaper and quicker than the new government proposal to build just one lone metro line to Dublin Airport/ Swords . . . and despite the fact that the Oireachtas Transport Committee endorsed his involvement in any metro project . . .

nobody in government or the Rail Procurement Agency has contacted Rabbitt about the plan, which could revolutionise public transport in Dublin.

Named the Dargan project, after William Dargan . . . the man who built almost the entire Irish railway system in the mid 1800s . . . Rabbitt's plan utilises existing rail lines and land controlled by the state in order to minimise the cost and complete the plan quickly.

The core of his plan is to build a 12.5km 'Circle Line' . . .

connecting Heuston Station with Cabra/ Drumcondra/ Spencer Dock on Dublin's northside and with St James Hospital, St Stephen's Green, Merrion Square, Pearse Street on the southside linking around to Spencer Dock. The northside half of the line already exists via a tunnel under the Phoenix Park and would cost just 72m to upgrade, while the southside half would almost exclusively run under publicly controlled land and would cost 536m.

The Circle Line would connect up the four mainline rail tracks that come into the city;

the two Luas lines; two further rail lines proposed by Rabbitt as part of the Dargan project and 10 existing radial quality bus corridors . . . providing, he says, a "public transport hub with 18 spokes, offering tremendous connectivity".

He also envisages an eightkilometre, 623m line to Dublini Airport/Swords, via Ballymun, running from Liffey Junction/ Cabra on the Circle Line and a second 10.3km, 750m underground line between Cabra and Templeogue, serving O'Connell Street, St Stephen's Green, Harold's Cross and Kimmage.

Unlike the government's proposed northside metro line, the airport line, Templeogue line and Circle line would be built on the same gauge as the existing mainline rail network, allowing airport services to run from Dun Laoghaire;

Spencer Dock or Templeogue . . . all via the city centre.

By running the airport/ Swords line on north of Duleek, Rabbitt says it can link up with the Belfast line. This would cut five kilometres off the Dublin-Belfast journey, allow higher speed services between Dublin and Belfast, and free up the old line for increased commuter services, he says.

The final part of the Dargan project is a 192m, five-kilometre loop line off the existing Blanchardstown rail line, which would connect Blanchardstown town centre, Blanchardstown hospital and the national aquatic centre.

Rabbitt says the line would also offer excellent 'park and ride' potential.

He says his cost estimates are extremely conservative "because there are a lot of naysayers out there". In his proposal, work on the underground lines are priced at between 63m and 72m per kilometre, compared to 45m a kilometre recorded for the Dublin Port Tunnel, even though the tunnel required for rail lines would be considerably smaller than for the Port Tunnel.

The plan evisages 69km of new and upgraded line being added to the network, which would carry well in excess of 100 million passengers a year on services that would run every 3.3 minutes at peak times and five minutes at off-peak.

This compares very favourably with the more expensive proposed northside metro line, which would be 17km in length and carry 34 million passenger a year. The lines will be profitable on an operational basis . . . even excluding alternative sources of income such as land development . . . and will not require a subsidy. "You are getting a very comprehensive system for a small investment, " he says.

Rabbitt, who is looking for a sponsor for the project, says he does not mind who runs it and would happily work with the government and/or the Rail Procurement Agency. However, he insists that it should be run as a business-led project, not an engineering project, which he says is the problem with the proposed northside metro line.

"The project should be procured in a manner similar to that used for the IFSC. The IFSC proves we can do things in Ireland when there is a will to so do it. It highlighted the business approach rather than the construction approach and I believe the Dargan project can do as the IFSC did, " he says. He also says there would be no shortage of interest from the private sector in getting involved. "There are major companies who would be very keen to get involved but they'd want the government to look at it seriously".

The government last year launched its ambitious 34bn Transport 21 plan, but critics have complained that it is long on aspirations and short on specifics and costings.

Rabbitt believes that, because of the sheer scale of the plan, it is "not achievable" in 10 years. He notes that the 34bn is not much less than the government's entire annual budget of 48.5bn for all spending and dwarfs the Department of Transport's current annual outlay of 2.3bn. Rabbitt, who led the Mitsui/Nishimatsu consortium which offered to build a Dublin metro system in 2000, says the Dargan project is "a sensible programme to solve Dublin's traffic problems, which there is no way that Transport 21 can come anyway near doing. Can we afford not to do this?"

The Dargan Project:

the main proposals 1A 12.5km 'Circle Line' . . . half of which would use existing track . . . running between Heuston Station, Drumcondra, Cabra, Spencer Dock, Pearse St, Merrion Sq, St Stephen's Green and St James Hospital and connecting with four mainline rail tracks, two Luas lines, two new radio metro lines and ten existing QBCs.

2An Airport/Swords metro line . . . heading off the Circle Line at Liffey Junction/ Cabra to Airport/Swords via Ballymun.

Allows for airport services from Dun Laoghaire, Spencer Dock and Templeogue, all via city centre.

3A 10.3km Templeogue underground metro line - running from the Circle Line at Liffey Junction/Cabra via the city centre, Harold's Cross, Kimmage to Templeogue.

4A 5km loop line of the existing Blanchardstown rail line, connecting the Blanchardstown town centre, hospital and the national aquatic centre.