If the information in the SNP article is correct, then the cost per km of Metro do Porto was about €28.5m compared with a projected €160m for Dublin. The difference is really staggering: its not enough to explain it away by saying that property acquisition and compensation costs will be higher in Dublin, which seems like factoring the inflated prices of the property bubble into the projected cost. A more valid reason for Porto being cheaper is that (a bit like the Green Line Luas) the Metro has used old narrow guage lines and tunnels (on the Povoa line, I think) and also has used one of the existing high-level bridges to cross the River Douro.
What is most interesting in the piece is the point about the investment in security in Porto (200 personnel), campared with the bland RPA approach of zero security personnel. The utter complacency of this should be highlighted.
|