Docklands Station (Design and Construction)

murphaph

Hmmmm, upon closer inspection I don't think I am right, unless those glass platform shelters go ight over the tracks and are designed to prevent diesel fums destroying the front windows of that station building. I hope and pray to God that they don't think 1 city block counts as 'integrated'!! It also means the station is a good bit further from the proposed Macken Street Bridgeand the south inner city for pedestrians

It would be great if it was electrified from day one. It wold make a lot of sense and it'd surely set them up for continuing on to Maynooth

murphaph

I'd say the cages are secure bike parking.

Why can't they provide a plan of the bloody station????

Maskhadov

Does anyone else think the whole spencer dock development is over rated and a missed oppurtunity to deliver a living/work area in the heart of the city that is of consequence ? I just hope that the LUAS does stop within a matter of 3 minutes walk from the new station.

GerardKeating

MarkoP11 wrote:

All wrong of course

Budget is €60 million

Drumcondra 1901/1997, Glasnevin 1901, Grand Canal Dock 2000 have all been built since 1890

and Harmonstown, 1958
Clontarf Road, late 90's ?

MarkoP11

Once again Iarnrod Eireann have shafted the public the goal posts have been moved again, its possibly the worst case scenario possible. The dream of a proper integrated system are well and truly dead

1) Station north of Sheriff Street not south of as originally planned
2) IT DOES NOT intergrate with Luas
3) Only accessible from the Midland line
4) Not accessible from Drogheda or Kildare
5) Only 2 platforms not 3 as was originally planned

Andrew Duffy

Charles Darwin wrote:

Would that be difficult to fix?

No, it would need about 100 feet of track across empty land.

Andrew Duffy

Something I found interesting in the RTE report was John Lynch saying how the station would allow better DART and Drogheda service; does this mean that some Maynooth services will be moved to Spencer Dock (rather than only new ones going there)?

NavanJunction1

MarkoP11 wrote:

1) Station north of Sheriff Street not south of as originally planned
2) IT DOES NOT intergrate with Luas

Ehh, I'd like to take Broadstone, thanks. Especially now

Winters

Transport21 Fan wrote:

The station building will have to remain after the Interconector as we need it for the d-Connector.?

Hasnt it sunk in yet? D-Connector aint happening. That was made clear today.

GerardKeating

MarkoP11 wrote:

Drumcondra 1901/1997, Glasnevin 1901, Grand Canal Dock 2000 have all been built since 1890

Not sure about the earlier news, but the Six One news cleared states "city centre", not city.

DerekP11

Winters wrote:

Hasnt it sunk in yet? D-Connector aint happening. That was made clear today.

Quite right Winters. Much of the work done by P11s previous incarnation has been undone today. That is certainly how its appears. As MarkoP11 said, the goalposts have moved again. One can only move with them, regroup and try a different approach. In general though, anything new on the rail network in Dublin has to be welcomed, but details of Spencer Dock, so far ,are rather disappointing.

Without making excuses too much, the whole Spencer Dock plan is flawed from a rail point of view. Personally, I can only wonder how different it could have been, had P11 been around in 2001, as the deal was done on Spencer Dock south by the time we arrived on the scene.

From an interested party point of view, Im disappointed with todays annoncement. We had an active role in submitting proposals for a station in spencer dock and im currently looking at plans that clearly show a basement level station in spencer dock south, with an entrance to the Mayor street extension and direct access to luas.

What has gone so wrong and why?

icdg

Why do I get the feeling that the trains that run into Connolly and Pearse will be packed while the ones to Spencer Dock run empty? Drumcondra is a hugely popular station and people will not be happy if services are bypassing it. (Presumably some services to Connolly/Pearse will remain, or Drumcondra station may as well close down).

Will there be a shuttle bus service to Connolly from Spencer Dock for people who need to connect with DART?

MarkoP11

Assume that current service level will remain to Pearse though it may reduce slightly back to 2004 levels. Drumcondra will remain

The 90 bus could serve close enough to the new station

Its a sad day a chance to do it right has been lost again, the original plans where spot on

silverside

so just to recap - and correct me if i am wrong -

most maynooth services will bypass drumcondra and terminate in spencer dock, from where it is a 5/10 minute walk to luas stop, which will be the only connectivity to the rest of the city (apart from walking).

if that is the case, maynooth/blanch commuters are being shafted just to free up a bit of a bottleneck at connolly

or am i missing something?

BendiBus

If all Maynooth services terminate in the new station it makes the Interconnector even more urgent than ever as a link to the DART at Pearse will be vital. A disconnected (disintegrated?) service with no easy access to the southside (not even the south city centre) will not be popular!

MarkoP11

Those Maynooth services which currently serve Pearse in the rush hour will remain or so we are told

After todays disastrous news you never know what IE are going to do next. To be honest you won't be seeing many trains to Spencer Dock anytime soon.

I'd feel more sorry for Kildare, Newbridge, Sallins and Hazelhatch who won't be getting there promised service to Spencer Dock

This is a very sad day, what was once a fine plan is now a disaster

Zebra3

Stupid.

Instead of getting a better service, Maynooth line customers now face increased times to get to the city centre.

Bypassing Drumcondra is a disaster. That station is one of the busiest on the Maynooth line. As people pointed out, it's bus connections make it so handy for integration which is meant to be the name of the game.

Drumcondra is hugely important for people along the Maynooth line (even as far as Longford) getting to Dublin airport. Hopefully any metro/Luas to the airport connects with the Maynooth line.

Winters

silverside wrote:

so just to recap - and correct me if i am wrong -

most maynooth services will bypass drumcondra and terminate in spencer dock, from where it is a 5/10 minute walk to luas stop, which will be the only connectivity to the rest of the city (apart from walking).

if that is the case, maynooth/blanch commuters are being shafted just to free up a bit of a bottleneck at connolly

or am i missing something?

Yes you are actually,

From this new docklands station it will be a 5/10 minute walk through a building site in one of the roughest areas in Dublin to a street that isnt built yet to a Luas stop where you will have to wait 2 years for the first tram to arrive to take you the 10min journey to O'Connell Street.

Dont you get the feeling the RPA and CIE have no intention of playing ball together. What a bunch of idiots.

Zebra3 wrote:

Drumcondra is hugely important for people along the Maynooth line (even as far as Longford) getting to Dublin airport. Hopefully any metro/Luas to the airport connects with the Maynooth line.

It doesnt, and it wont. If the CIE dont shaft you then the RPA will.

Transport21 Fan

MarkoP11 After todays disastrous news you never know what IE are going to do next.

Man, all that shameless brown nosing of IE management really paid off...

Victor

The €30m facility, which is being built on the city's north docks, is the first railway station to be constructed in the city since Tara Street in 1890.

Grand Canal Dock? Clontarf Road? Cherry Orchard? Broombridge?

BendiBus

First in the City Centre since Tara St. according to the official IÉ press release.

Winters

If you hoped on a train at Maynooth and asked for a single to the city centre only to be dropped beside Sheriff Street would you be happy?

andrew163

Sweet Jeebus.

If they pull all the trains from the Maynooth line that terminate in Connolly and send them to Spencer Dock, bypassing Drumcondra, that means the amount of trains that serve Drumcondra, Connolly, Tara Street and Pearse will revert to the levels they were before the increase in services in the middle of December 2005. Those service levels were frickin dangerous from the overcrowding. If the driver had to slam on the brakes (level crossing not closed or some eejit sitting on the track at a bend or something) it wouldn't have surprised me if a few people ended up in hospital from it. Fair play to them for fixing it..but..this will make things worse again.

By cutting out Drumcondra they've just disconnected half the trains on the Maynooth line from the 1, 3, 11/A/B/C, 13A, 16/A, 33, 41(?), 46X and the 746 bus routes... serving (amongst other things) Dublin Airport, DCU and UCD..

Unless they make up for it by purchasing a huge batch of new vehicles to start going to pearse again..but..that defeats the whole purpose of the new station (avoiding Connolly)..



Honestly I'm just annoyed because getting the bus (39 to town then one of the routes that normally pass Drumcondra anyway) will add an extra hour or so to the journey into DCU every morning. But I'm sure alot of other people rely on Drumcondra... Until of course 2015 when the Metro will go from Blanchardstown (ha)...but I'm not planning on failing enough years to still be in college by then...

BendiBus

Winters wrote:

If you hoped on a train at Maynooth and asked for a single to the city centre only to be dropped beside Sheriff Street would you be happy?

Yes! I work there

Winters

Oh..well..I..eh..

That answers that then I suppose.

MarkoP11

In a very strange turn of events there is universal disgust at the situation. Hang in there it is possible to recover some element of sense but its going to take time to do it right and provide the proof of what was promised.

Even having it on paper seems to mean nothing these days

Victor

But don't they call GCD a city centre station?

http://www.iarnrodeireann.ie/news_centre/general_news.asp?action=view&news_id=43

Docklands Station development announced by Press Office

A graphic representation of the new Docklands Station, opening in 2007

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen TD today (9th March 2006) announced the commencement of work on a €28 million investment in a new city centre station at Docklands, part of the Irish Government’s Transport 21 infrastructure investment plan.

Docklands, the first new city centre station since Tara Street in 1890, will deliver improvements in frequency and capacity on the Maynooth-Dublin commuter line, one of the fastest growing population corridors in the country, and allow transfer to and from the LUAS Red Line IFSC extension.

The station is part of an overall programme to dramatically increase the rail service’s capacity for commuters.

Iarnród Éireann has begun infrastructure work to link Docklands Station to the Maynooth line, and an application for planning permission for the station building itself will be lodged next week.

Subject to planning, Iarnród Éireann expect the station to open in 2007.

Docklands – Capacity, accessibility and integration

Currently, frequency of commuter services is restricted due to limited capacity in the Connolly Station area.

Docklands Station will provide an alternative terminus in the city centre, which will not be in conflict with DART or other services.

The station will:

- Deliver a peak rail service every 15 minutes on the Maynooth commuter line from 2007

- Allow for further expansion of Maynooth line services, and allow the development of the new rail line from Clonsilla to Dunboyne/M3 Park&Ride and onward extension to Navan

- Deliver 2,500 additional peak commuters daily on opening, with potential for up to 10,000 peak commuters daily as services expand

- Remove over 2,500 cars from roads daily on opening, building to 10,000

- allow up to 5 million extra journeys by rail per annum

- bring a strong public transport service to the growing Docklands/IFSC area

- connect with the LUAS red line extension to the Docklands

- Maynooth to Docklands in 40 minutes

- Clonsilla to Docklands in 23 minutes

- Will be built without causing any disruption to existing services

- Ensures Interconnector can be built without disruption to Docklands services

- Together with city centre resignalling project (completion 2009), increase city centre train capacity from 12 trains per hour per direction to 20 tph per direction

The investment in Docklands Station includes the station itself, and the track and signalling infrastructure to connect the station to the Commuter network.

Development: Iarnród Éireann has commenced infrastructure work, with site clearance nearing completion and work underway to construct the infrastructure to connect the station with the reopened ‘Newcomen’ line from Glasnevin Junction to the Docklands site.

The new station will have an island platform between two tracks, and will be built to meet the needs of all commuters, including modern standards of accessibility for mobility-impaired and sensory-impaired customers.

Integration: It will also deliver integration between transport modes, with the LUAS Red Line extension adjacent to the station, connecting commuters to the heart of the city centre, Connolly Station, Heuston Station and onwards to all stops to Tallaght.

Furthermore, it provides direct access to a large area in the city centre, including the growing IFSC/Docklands area and the North city centre.

The south city centre area is accessible via the nearby Sean O’Casey pedestrian bridge, and the proposed Macken Street Bridge will improve access further.

The station location, at the junction of Guild Street and Sheriff St Upper, ensures that the station will remain fully operational during the construction of the Interconnector, which will be developed at an adjacent site.

Extra Capacity for Commuters

The construction and opening of Docklands Station is part of Iarnród Éireann’s Integrated Rail Plan for Dublin, funded by Transport 21, which will deliver major capacity enhancement on all commuter rail routes leading into the city centre.

This programme commenced with DART Upgrade, which has already delivered a major boost in DART capacity. It continues with:

- Docklands Station – new city centre terminus to increase frequency and capacity on the Maynooth commuter line – complete 2007

- Kildare Route Project – four-tracking of line from Hazelhatch to Cherry Orchard to provide two dedicated lines for commuter trains, increasing frequency and capacity for Kildare route commuters – complete 2009

- City centre resignalling – resignalling of city centre area from Connolly Station to Grand Canal Dock, allowing increased capacity and frequency, primarily for Northern Commuter line – complete 2009

These projects will be followed by the development of the Interconnector, an underground high-capacity DART line which will dramatically increase frequency and capacity for services on the Northern, Maynooth and Kildare lines – the three fastest growing population corridors in the country.

The Interconnector also delivers a fully integrated rail network for the Greater Dublin area, linking all modes – DART, Commuter, Intercity, LUAS and Metro – and ensuring that suburb to suburb as well as suburb to city centre journeys can be made by a frequent, high capacity public transport network

SeanW

This Spencer Dock station is the most incredibly stupid thing I've ever seen. FFS are these morons (CIE/IE/RPA) putting together a dis-jointed, unintegrated hames of a system in place on purpose? Bloody hell.

markf909

An absolute scandolous decision,
The decision to locate in the docklands without any integration is bad enough but
the by-passing of Drumcondra smacks of political expediancy. The need for some
positive action on T21 before the election by-passes the greater need for a proper
transit system.

Metrobest

It gets worse. Because when the interconnector is built in 2016, services from Howth, Malahide and Drogheda will also bypass Connolly and Tara, the two busiest stations in Ireland. They will run via Spencer Dock.

The central stretch of loop line between Connolly and Tara, with signalling for 16 TPH, is expected to handle only 8 per hour when the Interconnector comes on stream. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of commuters will be diverted away from the city centre into one of the least attractive destionations in Dublin, Sheriff Street. It should also be noted that Irish Rail has a significant interest in Spencer Dock development, the result of a secret deal struck with a private development company.

Platform 11 took its eye off the ball with the focus on GJ interchange station, which it now appears will not be handling PPT trains. The most important station is an interchange station where the Spencer Dock line intersects with the loop line, allowing passengers connect to Connolly and Tara.