Phoenix Park Tunnel

seems an easy win - RUI were campaigning for something similar a few years ago. They should look into allowing an interchange at Broombridge too, seeing as the Luas is going there (not sure of the exact geography, but the lines all intersect close to each other).

the Luas extension crosses the Phoenix Park line doesn't it? Might be useful for anyone travelling Kildare->Stephens Green or beyond.

Great idea! It was platform 11 who campaigned for it 10 years ago. They made a presentation to an oireachtas transport committee. Its online somewhere. Would I make interesting reading now. By no means a replacement for DU, but a good addition to the network using existing infrastructure.

foggy_lad wrote: »

Will the investment actually benefit commuters or other intercity passengers though? is there not very low speeds through the tunnel as well as around Cabra on the way into Connolly? Are these restrictions going to be lifted or will it be just a very slow extension to the line for commuters who will find the luas and bus multiple times faster?

You'd be hard pressed not to find user benefit exceeding €12m. Removal of interchange at Heuston alone would presumably have a signifcant user benefit.

foggy_lad wrote: »

Only if it can be done in less than 15-20minutes, otherwise the bus and Luas are faster and may even be cheaper.

I think the millions that may be spent on this would be much better going into intercity route improvements as the time difference to Luas will be nothing. No matter how much capacity Connolly has there will be a speed limit of 30mph or less and you will spent time stopped crossing to the mainline near Drumcondra and you will always be stopped waiting for signals at Connolly no matter how much capacity their is. The time savings will be nothing worth spending millions on

The NTA need to wise up and have this money spend on improving regional railways or complete the DCC project.

Maybe they should tear up the tracks and lay a luas line instead in the rail bed, with half a dozen stops along the way.

The Indo article the OP provided a link to claims that: "The line has never been used for passenger trains" which can't be correct, I remember football specials from Athlone in the early 1970s going direct to Connolly for matches in Dalymount and we used to get regular scheduled trains to Pearse for rugby internationals in Lansdowne Road, we must have passed through the PP tunnel.

I think it was the requirement to switch platform and line capacity in Connolly and Pearse to Dart trains that caused the Galway and Westport trains to switch to terminating at Heuston and that's probably why the tunnel fell into disuse, open to correction on that one from more knowledgeable railway heads.

Captain Chaos wrote: »

The article does say it was never used for regular passenger trains but goes on to say it is used for specials but less so lately depending on who is winning in the GAA.

Which is incorrect. Before the switch to Heuston in the 1970s, every Dublin-bound train that passed through Athlone terminated in either Connolly or Pearse.

Some of those trains used the (MGWR) Mullingar line (now closed) and they would have travelled to Connolly on the Sligo line and not used the tunnel but most of them would have used the GSR line via Clara, Tullamore and Portarlington and all of those trains would have used the tunnel to get to Connolly or Pearse.

Judgement Day wrote: »

From the depths of my memory I seem to recall that the GS&WR ran a local Kingsbridge/Amiens Street service between 1906 and 1911. Certainly boat trains from Dun Laoghaire Pier to Heuston operated in the 1970s. I've just been looking at a timetable for 1977 and there are several connections via the tunnel.

A 1960 timetable I just had a glance in shows the 3.30pm ex.Cork arr.Kingsbridge 7.25pm and dep.7.35pm arriving Dun Laoghaire Pier at 8.15pm.

A train service from Kingsbridge to Dun Laoghaire would have had to go first west to a point beyond the South Circular Road, then back east again and up through the tunnel. The branch line to the tunnel starts just east of the SCR and it's not possible for a train to go nonstop from Heuston into the tunnel because only eastbound trains can access the branch line into the tunnel.

n97 mini wrote: »

One of the timetabled Sunday trains from Galway in about 1999 used to run into Heuston and back out up to Connolly and then on to Dundalk or Drogheda (can't remember which).

I know as I got that train once or twice. I would have gotten it more except for it was an Arrow.

Wow, IE actually made a revenue run from an ECS maintenance movement. Those days are more or less gone.

Judgement Day wrote: »

I traveled from Heuston to Dun Laoghaire Pier a few times for the novelty back in the 70's. However, at that time in the evening (pre-DART) there was no onward southbound connection at Dun Laoghaire and a transfer to the 45A bus had to be made.

Did you not hop on the mailboat in DL for the duty-free pints?

n97 mini wrote: »

One of the timetabled Sunday trains from Galway in about 1999 used to run into Heuston and back out up to Connolly and then on to Dundalk or Drogheda (can't remember which).

I know as I got that train once or twice. I would have gotten it more except for it was an Arrow.

I remember in Limerick Station one (early 90's) there was a disused lighted display with destinations, and one of them was Dun Laoghaire, so I assume a Limerick Boat train would have used the tunnel.

I thought that the Luas was supposed to be the connection between Heuston and Connolly, so it seems a bit odd to be opening another connection.

However, dunno if layouts and traffic levels would allow it but I always thought commuter services should run from one station and intercity from the other, with frequent connections between them.