DART+ (DART Expansion)

munchkin_utd

THE PROPOSED “Dart Underground” line linking Heuston Station with Spencer Dock took a step closer to reality yesterday when Iarnród Éireann flagged it in the EU’s Official Journal.

Describing the notice as the first phase “in what is set to be a year of major significance in the development of Dart Underground”, the rail company stated that an application for a Railway Order for the project is due to be lodged next month.

Dart Underground is to be procured as a public private partnership (PPP) project, and the publication of an indicative notice outlining its scope and duration is the first stage of a competitive process to select a private sector partner.

... ... ... ... ...

Twin tunnels, each containing a single track, will be excavated at an average depth of 24m (nearly 80ft) below ground level. The tunnel entrances will be at Inchicore and in the Docklands.

The project would facilitate two high-capacity Dart lines, proposed as Drogheda/Howth to Hazelhatch and Maynooth to Greystones. Dart trains on the northern line would bypass Connolly Station, enter the tunnel at Docklands and emerge at Inchicore. Iarnród Éireann said this would free up Connolly Station, currently a major bottleneck, and facilitate a new high-frequency Dart line “with greatly increased capacity from Maynooth through Connolly and all the way to Greystones”.

With trains operating “up to every three minutes”, it said the project — a key element of Transport 21 — “will complete the transformation of the Greater Dublin Area’s rail service capacity from 33 million passenger journeys annually now to over 100 million passenger journeys.”

Iarnród Éireann said it intended to publish a contract notice in the EU’s Official Journal in the second quarter of 2010, which would set out a process to “pre-qualify” potential private partners who would be invited to tender.
.... ..... .....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0210/1224264112195.html

Good to see progress being made in the planning of the thing with the Railway Order due next month and tendering process moving forward later in the year.

I'd also see it as positive that the article makes a compelling case for why this is needed and what it DOES for the travelling punter in Dublin.
Until recently it was seen as a random 1billion Euro Tunnel parallel to the Heuston Connolly Luas, it was the "interconnector".
Now its being marketed correctly as the central plank of a bigger plan, in bringing the Dart to Maynooth and Kildare and trippling the number of passengers using the Dart.
It was no good just stating plainly that it is needed without elaborating much. You need to convince people as to WHY it is, and thats now happening with every press release.

Zebra3

murphaph wrote: »

Maybe that was tongue in cheek, as I'm sure you're aware it would be no use if it only allowed trains to go one way.

In seriousness however, I think the lighter weight of an EMU
as compared to a DMU should easily enable it to climb that curve, so could the DART line not be routed along the Midland line (shorter route) and climb up the Newcommen curve into P6/7 and let intercity and outer suburban services to go via Drumcondra and terminate in Connolly shed?

I have to say, EMUs in Berlin seem to be able to cope with extremely severe gradients, like Newcommen Curve, everyday with ease. The canal navigation can be sorted with a lock that drops boats under the railway if needed, although navigation along the canal here hardly requires more that this bridge affair at is so rarely lifted.

You wanna take the Maynooth DART line out of Drumcondra? :eek:

Victor

Zebra3 wrote: »

You wanna take the Maynooth DART line out of Drumcondra? :eek:

Well Dr. Lynch is already promising an extra stop to serve the Mater.

Sponge Bob

They still have not sorted out the missing link west of Kylemore road

TED has this

http://ted.europa.eu/Exec?DataFlow=N_list_results.dfl&Template=TED/N_result_details_curr.htm&Page=1&docnumber=2010037471&StatLang=EN

SECTION I: CONTRACTING ENTITY
I.1) NAME, ADDRESSES AND CONTACT POINT(S): Coras Iompair Eireann, DART Underground Project Office, Heuston Station, Contact: DART Underground Project, Attn: Colm Reynolds, Dublin 8, IRELAND. Tel. +353 18585612. E-mail: dartundergroundprocurement@irishrail.ie.
Internet address(es):
General address of the contracting entity: http://www.cie.ie.
Address of the buyer profile: http://www.irishrail.ie/dartunderground.
Further information can be obtained at: As in above-mentioned contact point(s).



I.2) MAIN ACTIVITY OR ACTIVITIES OF THE CONTRACTING ENTITY: Railway services
Urban railway, tramway, trolleybus or bus services.



SECTION II: OBJECT OF THE CONTRACT
II.1) TITLE ATTRIBUTED TO THE CONTRACT BY THE CONTRACTING ENTITY: DART Underground Project.


II.2) TYPE OF CONTRACT: Works.


II.3) SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTRACT OR PURCHASE(S): The purpose of this notice is to inform interested parties that the DART underground project, which will be delivered as a public private partnership project, will commence its formal procurement process, through the publication of a Contract Notice during the second quarter of 2010. The Project will require some or all of the following works, supplies or services including all related works, services and supplies:
Design, construction, integration, commissioning, testing, financing, bringing into service and maintenance of the DART Underground and the operation of the DART underground and related facilities.
Additionally, market consultations are being conducted on the scope of the contract to be procured and interested parties are now invited to register their interest following which they will be issued the DART underground market consultation brochure including a questionnaire for completion and return by the 4th March.
DART underground is approximately 8.6km in length, running from East Wall Junction, which is south of Clontarf Road Station on the northern line, to a new station at Inchicore via approximately 7.6km of twin running tunnels constructed for the most part in limestone rock at an average depth of 24 meters. There will be five underground stations at:
— Docklands - this will facilitate an interchange with the Luas Red Line at Spencer Dock and will serve the International Financial Services Centre,
— Pearse - this will provide an interchange with DART services from Maynooth/ Dunboyne to Bray/ Greystones, existing mainline Intercity and Commuter services and Dublin Bus services,
— St Stephen’s Green - this will provide an interchange with Metro North, the Luas Green Line and Dublin bus services,
— Christchurch; and,
— Heuston for interchange with mainline Intercity and Commuter services, Luas Red Line and Dublin Bus services.
A turn-back facility will be provided at a surface station at Inchicore Station.
DART underground will have the capability and capacity to run DART services of 20 trains per hour in each direction. The journey time between East Wall Junction and Inchicore Station will be approximately 14 minutes and the journey time from Docklands to Heuston Station will be approximately 8 minutes. The DART Underground will form part of the national heavy rail network and consequently, systems and operational interfaces will be required. It is important to note that the provision of rolling stock will not form part of this contract.
It is anticipated that the qualification process will commence with the publication of the OJEU Notice in the second quarter of 2010 which will result in the establishment of a list of qualified candidates who will be invited to participate in negotiations leading to the award of the contract. At this stage, it is envisaged that the contract will be for a period of between 25 and 35 years including the design and construction period.



II.4) COMMON PROCUREMENT VOCABULARY (CPV): 45234122, 66122000, 45234000, 45234100, 45234111, 45234124, 50225000.



II.5) SCHEDULED DATE FOR AWARD PROCEDURES AND DURATION OF THE CONTRACT:
II.6) ESTIMATED COST AND MAIN TERMS OF FINANCING:
II.6.1) Initial estimated cost:
II.6.2) Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them: It is currently anticipated that the project will proceed as a public private partnership with financing conditions set out in the tender documents.


II.7) CONTRACT COVERED BY THE GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT AGREEMENT (GPA): Yes.


II.8) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: It is currently anticipated that the award procedure will commence in the second quarter of 2010.
Interested parties are invited to register their interest, by email, to dartundergroundprocurement@irishrail.ie and they will be issued the DART underground market consultation brochure including Questionnaire. The purpose of this questionnaire is to obtain input from interested parties into the scope of the contract and the procurement process. Questionaires are requested to be answered and returned before the 4.3.2010.
Please note that the procurement process for the DART Underground will be conducted entirely in english.



SECTION VI: COMPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
VI.1) CONTRACTS RELATED TO A PROJECT AND/OR PROGRAMME FINANCED BY EU FUNDS: No.


VI.2) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
VI.3) ESTIMATED TOTAL VALUE OF SUPPLIES OR SERVICES CONTRACT(S):
VI.4) DATE OF DISPATCH OF THIS NOTICE: 4.2.2010.

munchkin_utd

The residents of the railway estate in Inchicore are not happy about the main tunneling access point being right on their doorstep.

The Irish Times - Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Opposition to Inchicore Dart plan
FRANK McDONALD Environment Editor

RESIDENTS OF the historic Railway Estate in Inchicore, Dublin, claimed yesterday they were being “railroaded” by Iarnród Éireann’s plan for a Dart underground link between Heuston station and the Docklands area.

John Beck, chairman of Inchicore on Track, the residents’ new campaign group, said the plan – to cost €2 billion – was being “pushed through without any proper consultation”.

“The Iarnród Éireann plan will see the heritage estate, ironically built for railway workers in the 1840s, turned into Dublin’s largest 24-hour a day construction site. At its centre there will be a hole the size of a football pitch,” he said.

Inchicore on Track commissioned London-based tunnelling consultants OTB Engineering to review the proposal, which would involve excavating the local football pitch to provide an entry point for the tunnel boring machines.

The report recommends relocating the construction works a few hundred metres to an Iarnród Éireann works site, saying it would be “completely unreasonable” for the construction to be carried out in a residential area.

A spokesman for Iarnród Éireann said the site for the tunnel portal in Inchicore had been selected to avoid demolition of any houses, that the construction work would be temporary, and that local people would benefit from having a new station.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0224/1224265093538.html


I presume here is the location for the start of the tunnell? Is it?
http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=inchicore+parade&sll=53.340707,-6.324885&sspn=0.002191,0.004737&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Inchicore+Parade,+Dublin,+County+Dublin+City,+Ireland&ll=53.340617,-6.325164&spn=0.004382,0.009474&t=h&z=17

Theta

Yeah that is the location of the inichore works just to the left of your marker. Most of it is in the slow process of being vacaited I think.

Are there any other objections apart from the loss of the football field for a year? There are at least 3 pitches there?

munchkin_utd

it seems that the residents are concerned about a lack of information and other environmental impacts like dust levels and noise pollution.

or more specifically....

"The current proposed location of the portal construction site in the heart of a residential area is unacceptable because we think it would have an invasive, disruptive and detrimental impact on the Inchicore Estate and the lives and health of its people during the construction and operational phases. A residential area is simply not suitable to host work of this scale and duration. This is compounded by the loss of amenities and green areas for local residents, sports clubs and school. The quality of life of the residents would be severely compromised for a period in excess of 5 years".

We will be notifying our public representatives of this information immediately but we would strongly urge all residents to take it on themselves to use this information and let all their public representatives know the depth of their concerns. They should ask the public reps to make good on their promises of support.

Latest info....

DURING CONSTRUCTION:

Construction site would be working 24 hours a day. 20 hours of significant plant movement and 4 hours of maintenance.

The construction site would be lit to the levels of the Con Colbert road junction.

There would be up to 140 large lorry movements each day on the site. That's one HGV every 3-4 minutes during peak construction.

This works compound would be in use for 3.5 years minimum.

The hoarding around the compound would be about 6 metres (20 feet) high.

The digging of the hole for the TBMs would be done by heavy machinery, and spoil would be removed by truck up along Inchicore Parade and out through the back of the works.

The TBMs would be assembled in the compound – the machines are about as long as St Patrick’s Terrace (x2). This assembly would take 3 months of 24 hr day working.

The TBM (tunnel boring machines) are now only going to Heuston from Inchicore, and they envisage that this would take approx nine months.

Cut and cover construction between SGV and St Patricks Terrace would be normal builders hours (all day Mon-Fri, half day Saturday).

This cut and cover works to facilitate the site entrance would take approximately one year.

During this time there would be large drilling machinery, 50 trucks a day, 12/18 concrete wagons a day, 2 reinforced steel trucks each day – plus all the associated noise/personnel etc.

There would be around 400 personnel working in the compound with associated parking, noise etc.

http://www.inchicore.info/news/view/57/
http://www.inchicore.info/news/view/66/

Theta

What does the line " The TBM (tunnel boring machines) are now only going to Heuston from Inchicore" mean? They will be going from Inchicore to docklands no? or is there TMB's going from docklands to Hueston?

GerardKeating

Theta wrote: »

What does the line " The TBM (tunnel boring machines) are now only going to Heuston from Inchicore" mean? They will be going from Inchicore to docklands no? or is there TMB's going from docklands to Hueston?

Maybe there is another starting at Docklands and they meet at Heuston ?

The residents complain of 50 trucks a day to take the spoil away, if only there was another way, like rail ???

KevR

I thought they said they could take the bulk of it away by rail? Isn't that one of the reasons it's terminating at Inchicore - so they can remove a lot of the spoil by rail.

I'm nearly sure I read something along those lines, although am not certain and am open to correction.

bg07

KevR wrote: »

I thought they said they could take the bulk of it away by rail? Isn't that one of the reasons it's terminating at Inchicore - so they can remove a lot of the spoil by rail.

I'm nearly sure I read something along those lines, although am not certain and am open to correction.

It says in here:-
http://www.irishrail.ie/news_centre/general_news.asp?action=view&news_id=641

Irish Rail Press Release wrote:

There is potential for more than 75% of the spoil to be removed by rail.

Someone on boards said that this is what these wagons are for:-

http://www.etenders.gov.ie/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=JAN140196&catID=22

munchkin_utd

KevR wrote: »

I thought they said they could take the bulk of it away by rail? Isn't that one of the reasons it's terminating at Inchicore - so they can remove a lot of the spoil by rail.

I'm nearly sure I read something along those lines, although am not certain and am open to correction.

Maybe they could send it over to the ennis line to shore up/ raise the bit that keeps flooding!!!!

yermanoffthetv

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Maybe they could send it over to the ennis line to shore up/ raise the bit that keeps flooding!!!!

Thats not a half bad idea. There saying that is not really economically feasable to raise up the Ennis line any more so maybe they could use it to create some kind of embankment barrier or something? I dunno, just a thought.

BluntGuy

Some new schematics/drawings here:

http://www.irishrail.ie/projects/dart_underground_documents.asp

Sponge Bob

BluntGuy wrote: »

Some new schematics/drawings here:

http://www.irishrail.ie/projects/dart_underground_documents.asp

Nope , that is the last batch from 23 November and with the missing link west of Kylemore Road still missing.

BluntGuy

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Nope , that is the last batch from 23 November and with the missing link west of Kylemore Road still missing.

Most of those were there last November, but there's a couple of new ones showing station entrances and tunnel profiles I don't recall seeing there.

The docklands station seems to be well-integrated with Luas, I must admit.

bg07

Irish Times wrote:

Dart Underground's economic benefit 'will far outweigh costs'
TIM O'BRIEN

THE BENEFITS of Dublin’s proposed “Dart Underground” outweigh the costs by more than two to one, according a new economic appraisal from London-based consultants Colin Buchanan.

A €2 billion proposal to link Docklands Station with Heuston via Pearse Street and Christchurch, Dart Underground is intended to provide for a reorganisation of Dublin suburban services with trains running from Greystones to Maynooth and from Hazelhatch to Balbriggan or Drogheda.

Making a presentation on the economic advantages of public transport investment to a breakfast meeting in Dublin yesterday, Paul Buchanan, of Colin Buchanan, said high-density cities had a high pay-off for the environment and economy and were more productive as employers had access to a greater pool of workers, while innovation always increased.

He said “Dublin without a strong commercial centre will not deliver the growth Ireland needs” and maintained good public transport was the key to creating one. His company’s analysis for Iarnród Éireann had found Dart Underground would be “immensely” beneficial in creating the strong commercial centre.

“Quite apart from tying together Dublin’s two growth areas for high density, Docklands and Heuston,” he said, Dart Underground would “sweat” the rail company’s assets, making much better use of investment in track and trains.

“It brings rail-based public transport right through the central business district (CBD). This is much better than passing beside the CBD as happens at present,” he told The Irish Times.

Mr Buchanan said his firm’s analysis was that investment made in Dart Underground would return a benefit about 2.5 times greater than the cost.
He made his presentation at a breakfast briefing organised by Dublin Chamber of Commerce and hosted by corporate lawyers Byrne Wallace.

Iarnród Éireann said it welcomed comments on Dart Underground which, a spokesman said, “demonstrated the crucial value of an integrated transport system” which, he added, would being economic benefits to the entire city region.

Link

I suppose a report paid for by Irish Rail is hardly going to say other wise. Interesting all the same.

BluntGuy

For some time this map of the proposed Greater Dublin transport area has been floating around (click for full size):



Well it's become obvious at this stage that isn't going to happen, so I tried to produce a more realistic one, with the powers of photoshop (again, click for full size):



Might come in handy, I dunno. Boredom does this to you sometimes.

Aard

Lol, "Luas North"!

dowlingm

I'm in favour of MetroWest being changed to LUAS-width rather than binned. It seems to me that the likely traffic counts can be handled by 30 or 40m LRVs and it adds resiliency to Lines A, D and F by providing an interlink between them to allow inter-line vehicle transfer and emergency depot space in the event of a disruption to one of the other depots - plus MetroWest won't be full grade separated as I understand making the distinction with LUAS pointless. So I'd at least build from Belgard to Blanchardstown and see how that goes, and enforce on IE the ability to use LUASWest to transfer between Maynooth, Pace and Kildare Line services.

As for MetroNorth, I'm okay with the distinction between a high frequency grade separated service and LUAS. It would have made more sense using DART cars with automatic train control. The 8500 series 2-car DART sets could have been sold to the winning consortium to be refitted as part of the mid-life update they'll need anyway and replaced with 4-car sets as part of the Interconnector order required to bring the Maynooth and Hazelhatch sections to electric.

Yixian

Metro North isn't going to be LUAS North...

Metro North is on track and construction will begin pretty soon.

DART Underground is a little delayed but not by much.

Metro West isn't cancelled but is on hold, it will probably resurface but perhaps not until DARTu and MN open.

DARTu and MN will make up the "Dublin Metro" or "Dublin Subway" or whatever you want to call it, and will interconnect with the LUAS at a handful of stations, including SSG. All 3 will be covered by integrated ticketing, as well as the buses.

So by 2016-2018 Dublin will have essentially gone from having awful to world class public transport. That's seriously impressive.

lucernarian

I see there's a proposed new entrance on the Pearse station drawing which would happen to go through a large and very expensive building currently being built by TCD at the moment. It's being built where Irish Rail have a "car park" on the aerial photograph.

Yixian

Do you mean the two clash or have TCD incorperated Pearse St Station into their new building?

I did see the proposal for the new TCD building and it's quite nice - the one with the big arch right?

It's about time Trinity did something with Pearse Street.

Cool Mo D

To_be_confirmed wrote: »

I see there's a proposed new entrance on the Pearse station drawing which would happen to go through a large and very expensive building currently being built by TCD at the moment. It's being built where Irish Rail have a "car park" on the aerial photograph.

Isn't that being jointly developed by TCD and IE, with a new entrance to Pearse station incorporated?

lucernarian

I have found little information on the building beyond that I know that much of the life sciences will have teaching and research facilities there. The latest progress on the building doesn't point to any space for such an entrance unless they're leaving an entrance well inside the building?

Yixian

Ok I've found some pics. Basically the entrance to the biosciences block will stretch right through the building into Pearse Station.

Like this:



So from Pearse Street you use the biosciences entrance, keep walking and eventually you pop out into Pearse Station where there are elevators down the the underground.

Here's a bigger pic of how the biosciences entrance will look, apparently this is going to be finished by 2011? Is there much activity going on atm? I haven't been to Dublin since last summer but didn't see much then...



Quite nice.

I don't know how this relates to the other recently announced TCD developments on Pearse Street. Are they going to be right next to each other or?..

lucernarian

The Biosciences building right beside the train station is well underway. I'm no expert but the building does look like it'll be completed during 2011. The exterior facade is almost fully in place currently.

Yixian

Nice, how about the entrance? Does it look anything like the mockups? That hanging glass structure in the atria has looked different in every one.

leshamry

http://issuu.com/celtcia/docs/preview

BluntGuy

leshamry wrote: »

http://issuu.com/celtcia/docs/preview

And?

Have you anything further to add?

What does "Make the Metro Irish" mean, care to explain?


And why are you posting this in the DART Underground thread anyway, when there is a Metro North one provided here. Not that your post would be any more discursive or helpful in that thread of course.