Dublin is set to decide the fate of MetroLink, its first underground railway proposal, which has faced a tumultuous 25-year history of cancellations and rebranding. The project, now scaled down to 18.8 km of track, has seen costs soar to five times the initial estimate while encountering strong opposition from various groups, including homeowners and heritage organizations. This situation parallels the frustrations of literary character Leopold Bloom from James Joyce's Ulysses, who contemplates transportation issues across the city. Despite its status as a wealthy European capital, Dublin remains the only large city in Western Europe without a metro system.
Transport is never far from Bloom's thoughts as he traverses the city on 16 June 1904. His wife Molly's infidelity, the death of his friend Paddy Dignam, and fatherhood are uppermost in the advertising canvasser's mind, but he also repeatedly ruminates on a plan to build a tramline along the North Circular from the cattle market to the quays.
A wide-awake city of tech firms, theatres and tourist attractions, Dublin is one of the EU's richest metropolitan areas; it is also the only large western European capital without a metro.
Since it was first proposed 25 years ago, MetroLink has been cancelled, revived and rebranded. The latest version of the plan, which involves just 18.8km of track, has been subject to delays, costs that have spiralled to five times the original estimate, and fierce opposition from homeowners.
No Dubliner would have been more frustrated with the situation's absurdities, and MetroLink's slow progress, than Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of James Joyce's Ulysses.
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