extend the DART

P

Protocol

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[broken link removed]

Please support the Platform11 campaign to built the Interconnector and extend the DART to provide an integrated transit system for Dublin, including an airport link.

Huge capacity, more trains, direct to St. Stephen's Green (instead of Heuston), and an airport link.

All for €700 million less than a single-line metro to the airport.
 
transit map

Here is a link straight to a schematic map of the proposed network.


[broken link removed]
 
That's a great site altogether. The 'Dublin already has a “metro”, it is called the DART' slogan is catchy.
Gets my vote.
 
here's another map which shows what irish rail are proposing
to implement:

www.crannog-software.com/ad/drp.pdf

this is definitely a worthy cause if you care about giving
dublin a basic integrated suburban and metro rail service.
read the FAQ at the site which explains the rational for
making this plan a priority over the current rpa proposal
for a disconnected/unintegrated single line.
 
Costs?

Hi Protocol,

When you say "All for €700 million less than a single-line metro to the airport. " what does this mean? Should we assume that €700 million less will actually work out at about €3 billion more? Does anyone actually believe state bodies when the quote cost projections for state bodies?

MAC
 
What am I missing?

With all due respect, doesn't the second Luas line already connect Heuston and Connolly, which allows access to most of the suburban rail links. The proposed interconnector runs parallel to and within reasonable walking distance to the new Luas line and looks like a waste of money to me. There must be a cheaper way of interconnecting the 2 Luas lines!
 
not connecting the Luas lines

The aim of the Interconnector is much, much more than merely connecting two Luas lines.

The key point is that Kildare commuters won't have to stop their rail trips in Heuston, theyr trains can continue direct into the city centre.

It also adds much more capacity around Connolly.

Plus it does loads more, all info available on www.platform11.org
 
connecting heuston to connolly

It is expected that when the second luas line finally gets into operation most of the trams will be full on arriving at heuston and will not be letting off many passengers there, i.e. most will be continuing to the city centre.

Hence it is argued that the connection between the two train stations offered by the Luas, although certainly welcome, is not likely to be sufficient to fill the demand for such a connection.
 
..

Theres already a link between Heuston and Connolly. The tunnel in the Phoenix park. Platform11 i thought promoted the usage of this, so the new link should not be called an interconnector, it should just be a new line in itself to reduce the reliance on Heuston and Connolly.
In addition, why can't bloody trains from Cork/Galway sometimes go to Connolly currently? For All Irelands they can do it, why not bring some trains in there every day rather than leaving you on the fringe of the city
 
Re: ..

first of all, for all the good things about the luas, it is still a completely different mode of transport than dart. it doesn't at all compare well with dart in terms of speed, capacity and frequency. for example, the trams running between tallaght and connolly have a maximum capacity of under three hundred people each. given a theoretical maximum of 10 trams an hour at the peak, this means that at the most 3000 people can be carried using luas per hour. a dart line could carry well over 20000 people an hour. in terms of speed, it's going to take close to 30 minutes for the tram to get from heuston to connolly (i can walk it in 40). the "extend the dart" plan could bring you from heuston to stephen's green in 5 minutes, and to spencer dock in under 15 minutes.

the problem with the phoenix park tunnel is basically that connolly is jammed to capacity as it is and simply cannot accommodate any further trains. to run a train from cork/limerick or galway into connolly means taking a train out of an existing service. what train do you ax? a dart or a belfast enterprise? neither is practical. basically the entire system is operating at max capacity at the moment. this is to the detriment of all existing services. iarnrod eireann have seen demand leap but the current infrastructure limits increasing their services.

the beauty of the extend the dart proposal is that all the four rail routes which come into dublin become linked in a practical way. generally it will become possible with a single change of trains to get from anywhere to anywhere along any of the exiting lines (from drogheda to maynooth to kildare to bray) as well as to places like tara street, stephen's green and the airport. all of these places will be served by high speed and frequent dart type trains. not only that but opens up capacity on the entire network for future and improved services by taking the strain off the connolly/tara/pearse bottleneck.

it's an excellent proposal and would transform the city in a dramatic and positive way. all this is in the faq at the www.extendthedart.com site which explains the proposal very well and is worth a read.
 
Excellent stuff

Excellent stuff

- God forbit the Government might ever pay any attention to it though :(
 
Re: Excellent stuff

don't be so fatalistic about it terroronthenet. i suggest you contact your local representatives if you're interested in supporting this proposal. i've done so and all have responded that either they already support it, they are looking into it or will raise it as an issue with brennan. from the various parties, it seems that currently fine gael are the most enthusiastic supporters of it.

remember, this it isn't pie in the sky stuff. the studies, the routing, the basic planning and preliminary engineering have been carried out. they are already implementing some of the initial parts of the plans using current funding. for example, to support running dart/commuter services to kildare, they are currently working on doubling the tracks going out of heuston so that intercity trains and commuter trains can run independently.

basically, irish rail are hoping to implement this by 2015 if the currently level of investment in rail is maintained (unfortunately not guaranteed). the "extend the dart" campaign wants to accelerate this to a 2009 completion by upping the current relatively miserly levels of capital investment in rail. it may not have the glamour or "shiny newness" that a single unintegrated underground luas line to the airport has but by supporting an extra 40 or 50 thousand commuters an hour coming in and out of dublin it would take almost a fifth of the current rush hour commuters out of their vehicles, provide dublin with an integrated multi-line metro system and provide a basic hub from which to extend commuter rail all over dublin.
 
Re: Excellent stuff

If ye'd voted for Dustin in the 1990 Presidential Election (or was it 1997?) we'd now have the DART to Dingle.
 
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