Does anybody have any descent photos of the Rail Tunnel under Phoenix Park?

lynchiered

Does anybody have any descent photos of the Rail Tunnel under Phoenix Park?

hobochris

Cant find any pictures but this video might be some use to you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvgt_02WQv4

Ham'nd'egger

lynchiered wrote: »

Does anybody have any descent photos of the Rail Tunnel under Phoenix Park?

Will ascent ones not do you?

Ste.phen

Hamndegger wrote: »

Will ascent ones not do you?

Was thinking the same when I saw the title

Typewriter

There's this...

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/I/Islandbridge%20Junction/slides/Islandbridge%20Junctionjpg%20(1).html

dowlingm

Microsoft Live Maps has good birdseye views of both approaches to the tunnel.

HonalD

green_jesus wrote: »

There's this...

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/I/Islandbridge%20Junction/slides/Islandbridge%20Junctionjpg%20(1).html

Cracking site!

Heisenberg1

lynchiered wrote: »

Does anybody have any descent photos of the Rail Tunnel under Phoenix Park?

why??????????

lynchiered

HonalD wrote: »

Cracking site!

A1 site amazing the amount of rail in Ireland,
I was kinda looking for a view inside the Tunnel just to get a idea of the type of build and condition its in. I've read so many reports on the tunnel but seen no pictures, Its like C.I.E are hiding something in there lol (Joke)

lynchiered

luzon wrote: »

why??????????

Why not lol,
Do you no something we don't ?

Cookie_Monster

luzon wrote: »

why??????????

Because it's interesting

HonalD wrote: »

Cracking site!

+1 just spent the last hour browsing photos on it. Is it just me though or is Dun Laoghaire station not under "D" or "M" for Mallin. I can't find it anyway.

spurious

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Is it just me though or is Dun Laoghaire station not under "D" or "M" for Mallin. I can't find it anyway.

Seems to be a few others missing too - Booterstown, Blackrock etc.
Fantastic site though.

lynchiered

spurious wrote: »

Seems to be a few others missing too - Booterstown, Blackrock etc.
Fantastic site though.

If you have photo's of those stations you should e-mail them to the site and get them up online

Tabnabs

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

+1 just spent the last hour browsing photos on it. Is it just me though or is Dun Laoghaire station not under "D" or "M" for Mallin. I can't find it anyway.

Can't find a lot of the Stations near Dun Laoghaire either, seems odd

L1011

I suspect the owner (he's posted on here before I'm sure) just hasn't got around to photographing them yet.

Run_to_da_hills

Unfortunately this piece of subway under the Phoenix park may be the nearest thing we will ever get to the Dublin Metro. :mad:

Remove the cobwebs, give it a lick of paint, add a few lights and open a brand new underground station close to the cross commemorating the 30th anniversary Pope John Pauls visit in 1979.

ofjames

the tunnel goes nowhere near the cross.

it goes roughly beneath the roundabout before the zoo on the town side, beside the wellington monument.

Eiretrains

I'd just like to say thanks to all those who have commented on my Eiretrains website, I'm glad so many people (who may not be even into railways in general) find it interesting and continue to check up on it every so often, it's very encouraging! With regard to some stations being missing, its simply because I have yet to photograph them, particularly in the south Dublin area, which I hope to be doing shortly.

I photographed Phoenix Park tunnel from Heuston Station's platform 10, which unfortunately you can no longer access. I have to say I've never seen a photo of the Cabra entrance, it sort of out of public view.:)

ArmaniJeanss

Brilliant site, very interesting.

dead air

hobochris wrote: »

Cant find any pictures but this video might be some use to you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvgt_02WQv4

Thanks for posting that, it really goes to show how little clearance there is for adding overhead power cables into that tunnel. Totally unsuitable for DART trains.

dowlingm

The Delhi metro is using a solid overhead rail (at 25kV!) to power their metro in tunnels. That reduces the clearance required compared to catenary. Not necessarily a solution for this though, especially as some of the biggest challenges are at either end of the tunnel rather than in the tunnel itself, not to mention the new looking developments at the southern portal end who wouldn't be impressed by the conversion of a positioning line to a frequent service line. Normally I wouldn't have much sympathy but who would blame them when IE have sworn blind they'd never do it :D:D:D

paulm17781

dead air wrote: »

Thanks for posting that, it really goes to show how little clearance there is for adding overhead power cables into that tunnel. Totally unsuitable for DART trains.

The tunnel leading to Dalkey used to be like that and they lowered the tracks. No reason they couldn't do that at Heuston.

Cookie_Monster

Eiretrains wrote: »

I'd just like to say thanks to all those who have commented on my Eiretrains website, I'm glad so many people (who may not be even into railways in general) find it interesting and continue to check up on it every so often, it's very encouraging! With regard to some stations being missing, its simply because I have yet to photograph them, particularly in the south Dublin area, which I hope to be doing shortly.

I photographed Phoenix Park tunnel from Heuston Station's platform 10, which unfortunately you can no longer access. I have to say I've never seen a photo of the Cabra entrance, it sort of out of public view.:)

Keep up the good work!:)

Bluetonic

dead air wrote: »

Thanks for posting that, it really goes to show how little clearance there is for adding overhead power cables into that tunnel. Totally unsuitable for DART trains.

They are also ways and means to power DART from the ground from this section of track if they were serious about it.

spacetweek

Bluetonic wrote: »

They are also ways and means to power DART from the ground from this section of track if they were serious about it.

Yes, but that still leaves about 10 reasons not to do it and to build the Interconnector instead.

Cool Mo D

It would be nice if they'd do both - build the Interconnector for the DART with full 4-tracking as far as Celbridge, and use the PPT to send commuter trains from Naas and Kildare to Conolly, which would have space freed up by the less DARTs.

On a related note, how feasible is 4-tracking the northern line as far as Howth Junction, or Malahide? Would it be cheaper to build a single-bore dual-track tunnel from Connolly to just north of Howth Junction for Enterprise and commuter - isn't most of the cost of a metro tunnel in the underground stations? I suppose this might require electric Enterprises.

dead air

Definitely, lowering the tracks to convert it to allow Dart trains would work (but this wouldn't help extend the Dart to Balbriggan/Hazelhatch). There is however some general presumptions that all IE have to do is resignal a couple of lines at Heuston and Connolly and we have an underground Dart ready to go.

dowlingm

I wouldn't mind seeing it happen if it meant out of service trains could be routed away from interconnector for instance.

kingshankly

Phoenix park tunnel is not too exciting I'm afraid I would say it's 1/2 mile to a mile long curved to the left very dark with lights that can be turned on by ctc.
It has a count down on the wall to let drivers know when it's ending so they don't pass the signal at the exit beside platform 10

kingshankly

Eiretrains wrote: »

I'd just like to say thanks to all those who have commented on my Eiretrains website, I'm glad so many people (who may not be even into railways in general) find it interesting and continue to check up on it every so often, it's very encouraging! With regard to some stations being missing, its simply because I have yet to photograph them, particularly in the south Dublin area, which I hope to be doing shortly.

I photographed Phoenix Park tunnel from Heuston Station's platform 10, which unfortunately you can no longer access. I have to say I've never seen a photo of the Cabra entrance, it sort of out of public view.:)

credit to you on a fantastic web site never knew it existed until today:eek:

shamwari

Cool Mo D wrote: »

On a related note, how feasible is 4-tracking the northern line as far as Howth Junction, or Malahide? Would it be cheaper to build a single-bore dual-track tunnel from Connolly to just north of Howth Junction for Enterprise and commuter - isn't most of the cost of a metro tunnel in the underground stations? I suppose this might require electric Enterprises.

Four tracking Connolly to Howth Junction / Malahide isn't going to happen I'm afraid. The land corridor required to do this doesn't exist, and the cost of buying up or CPO'ing the necessary houses and back gardens makes would to costly to the point of being laughable. There is scope to add additional rail here and there though and these opprtunties lie north of Howth Junction. Again unfortunately, there have been some strategic locations where recent development has taken place right up the side of the tracks, which kills stone dead any means of expanding capacity. Near Portmarnock station is a case in point.

My big concern though going forward is how the DART extension to Balbriggan post-interconnector is going to fair out in terms of how it will interact with other traffic. Certainly Irish rail need to work this out properly as to how they are going to integrate inner DART (from Howth), outer DART from Balbriggan, Commuter service Ex Drog / Dndlk and Enterprise services. Getting this to work cohesively will require some out of the box thinking, and this isn't Irish Rail's strong point when you look the the current mess that is DART / Commuter rail and how badly they all currently conflict with one another.

In my humble opinion, if they don't get this right then all that they are going to do is to push the current rail gridlock in the city centre out into the North County.

IIMII

Eiretrains wrote: »

I'd just like to say thanks to all those who have commented on my Eiretrains website

Alot of work gone into that. Never saw the Baltinglass station before - it's amazing that it is so well preserved. Fair play, very interesting

GerardKeating

shamwari wrote: »

Four tracking Connolly to Howth Junction / Malahide isn't going to happen I'm afraid.

Four tracking a green field site is a lot easier, my "dream" solution would be to make Metro North a heavy rail solution and 4 track it from the city to the airport/swords and then link it back to the northern line above rush...

Bluetonic

spacetweek wrote: »

Yes, but that still leaves about 10 reasons not to do it and to build the Interconnector instead.

Did you never think of as well as the interconnector.

loyatemu

back on topic - there are good birds-eye pics of the PP tunnel on maps.live.com:

http://tinyurl.com/bsofvv

csd

Good photos here, but I wouldn't recommend taking them from where they did. Moving trains, trespass on the railway and all that:

Barely there Ireland

paulm17781

csd wrote: »

Good photos here, but I wouldn't recommend taking them from where they did. Moving trains, trespass on the railway and all that:

Barely there Ireland

Thanks! That's the most of it I've ever seen. I've been tempted to walk it at night but never bothered.

IIMII

Anyone know how it was built? Cut and cover?

paulm17781

IIMII wrote: »

Anyone know how it was built? Cut and cover?

It looks bored. Definitely not C&C, they'd have had to dig down about 20M through the Phoenix park.

Draupnir

I grew up right beside Glasnevin Junction so we used to play (mental I know) around the railway lines there, we'd often walk through Cabra along the tracks etc. We never quite made it as far as the Phoenix Park but there is at least one other small tunnel on that line just beyond the Cemetery that takes it under the Canal.

How many times I've wished they'd put a commuter station at Glasnevin Junction!

zing

Draupnir wrote: »

there is at least one other small tunnel on that line just beyond the Cemetery that takes it under the Canal.

That'd presumably be here:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=swv9h8gg8jpy&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=29503846&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Are there any passenger services that use this tunnel these days ? Other than match going trains, etc.. iirc 12 or 13 years ago one of the trains from Galway on Sunday afternoon went on over to Connolly after dropping most people off at Heuston. Used to get that train from Galway regularly and even though I was living down near Connolly at the time I never bothered to stay on it as it was quicker to get the bus (train had a bit of a wait in Heuston iirc).

Draupnir

zing wrote: »

That'd presumably be here:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=swv9h8gg8jpy&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=29503846&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Are there any passenger services that use this tunnel these days ? Other than match going trains, etc.. iirc 12 or 13 years ago one of the trains from Galway on Sunday afternoon went on over to Connolly after dropping most people off at Heuston. Used to get that train from Galway regularly and even though I was living down near Connolly at the time I never bothered to stay on it as it was quicker to get the bus (train had a bit of a wait in Heuston iirc).

That's the one, very easily reached from the cemetery (not sure how legal it is though, it's the guts of 20 years since I ventured there). From what I remember, the only trains I ever saw using those two lines were cargo trains and/or CIE service vehicles.

Ste.phen

That's the spur to Docklands, goes along the canal, past croke park at the canal end, and on past connolly to the docls. There's a big fence around the outside of the cemetery wall to prevent access. I@m sure if you REALLY wanted to get down there there's nothing to stop it though

Draupnir

As I said, its 15+ years ago but when I was growing up in that area, it was very straightforward to get onto the tracks there and go for a wander. The section were the Maynooth line crosses above the line that heads towards the park was particularly overgrown with huge trees when I was a kid.

There was also a very big fox living up there at the time too!

Ste.phen

From the noise i hear on friday and saturday evenings, i can only assume that there's a way via the train station / warehouses at broombridge. It must be at least big enough to get a motorbike and about a dozen drunk teenagers through

kingshankly

zing wrote: »

That'd presumably be here:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=swv9h8gg8jpy&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=29503846&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Are there any passenger services that use this tunnel these days ? Other than match going trains, etc.. iirc 12 or 13 years ago one of the trains from Galway on Sunday afternoon went on over to Connolly after dropping most people off at Heuston. Used to get that train from Galway regularly and even though I was living down near Connolly at the time I never bothered to stay on it as it was quicker to get the bus (train had a bit of a wait in Heuston iirc).

Many years ago there Galway trains ran from connolly via heuston.
Today it's is only used for freight ( very little left) trains to north wall yard , empty trains from Connolly to inchicore and gas specials

Bluetonic

kingshankly wrote: »

Many years ago there Galway trains ran from connolly via heuston.
Today it's is only used for freight ( very little left) trains to north wall yard , empty trains from Connolly to inchicore and gas specials

:eek:

kingshankly

Bluetonic wrote: »

:eek:

Bloody predictive text on me phone make that GAA specials

spacetweek

kingshankly wrote: »

Bloody predictive text on me phone make that GAA specials

Posting to Boards from yer mobile. Tsk tsk