Merrion Gates

sporty56

Dublin City Council has allocated 100K for 2012 towards "Progression of the design for a road link to facilitate the closure of the Merrion Gates level crossing". Anybody got full information of what's planned ??

dowlingm

interesting! There is what looks like a slipway of some kind here which might be a direction that Strand Road would be extended - the question would then be how the railway line would be crossed.

Hmmm... after some digging around found this (PDF) - see section B1. It seems ped/cycle only though - classic lack of joined up thinking?

Run_to_da_hills

dowlingm wrote: »

interesting! There is what looks like a slipway of some kind here which might be a direction that Strand Road would be extended - the question would then be how the railway line would be crossed.

Hmmm... after some digging around found this (PDF) - see section B1. It seems ped/cycle only though - classic lack of joined up thinking?

Only one way and that would be up and over over, I doubt if they would risk going under because of flooding and proximity to the sea also there would be restrictions on how on how far down in that direction because of the Bird sanctuary.

CIE

dowlingm wrote: »

interesting! There is what looks like a slipway of some kind here which might be a direction that Strand Road would be extended - the question would then be how the railway line would be crossed.

Hmmm... after some digging around found this (PDF) - see section B1. It seems ped/cycle only though - classic lack of joined up thinking?

That can't be it, then, if it's a "road link" as they stated.

What they should have done ages ago was elevate the railway from Ballsbridge through to Booterstown, and have no level crossings at all through there. The railway could have done with better elevation further back towards the Grand Canal, as well; the railway bridges over Bath Avenue, Lotts Road, Barrow Street and Grand Canal Quay could still use some extra clearance underneath.

trellheim

A light bridge just for cars like the little flyover in West London might work and would be cheap enough. Drop the railway into a 5ft ditch and it shouldn't stand out too much.

dowlingm

trellheim wrote: »

Drop the railway into a 5ft ditch and it shouldn't stand out too much.

Drop an electrified railway into a 5ft ditch which on one side is a marsh and t'other the sea? Can't see that myself.

Deedsie

Any progress from Dublin City Council on finding a solution to the Merrion Gates problem? It's a difficult one but something needs to be sorted out.

Seanmk1

The lack of underpasses and overpasses in Dublin is shocking. One built in the 60s for UCD and then we had to wait fifty years for Lucan and Newlands Cross.

An underpass would be risky at Merrion Gates, and I'm sure the people who live there wouldn't be too fond of an overpass. It's not the easiest part of the city to get planning either.

goingnowhere

Doubt it would really help, the evening problem is not the level crossing its merging into the Rock Road which backs up Strand Rd.

Other way around in the morning it would make a big difference again more down to the lack of conflicting road traffic not the level crossing

The level crossing is integrated with the traffic lights to optimise flow

tabbey

During the electrification project, the railway was raised by 50cm, between Merrion and Salthill, in order to reduce the incidence of line closure due to flooding. It has worked well, but as the years go by, further work may be needed.

As for the road crossing over or under the railway, the plan since the 1970s was for an eastern bypass from the Port Access Tunnel & East Link Bridge to burrow under the railway and Booterstown marsh before going through to the N11 & M50. This was the intention when the railway was electrified.
The eastern bypass project was buried fifteen or twenty years ago, and unfortunately no alternative grade separated crossing took it's place.
It is a classic example of the arsewise system of planning which afflicts this state.

Victor

Seanmk1 wrote: »

An underpass would be risky at Merrion Gates, and I'm sure the people who live there wouldn't be too fond of an overpass.

I'm not sure they are fond of the current and future flooding risks either.

nowecant

Raising the railway as part of flood defense works and routing the road under would seem like the most likely solution in my opinion

Victor

nowecant wrote: »

Raising the railway as part of flood defense works and routing the road under would seem like the most likely solution in my opinion

The problem there is that you need a minimum clearance of 4.65 metre to allow trucks and buses under the road. Add 1-2 metres for the thickness of the bridge and a 1-metre thickness for the road underneath. The implication is that the railway needs to be raised hugely or the road needs to go very deep. If you raise the railway too much, you need to consider things like the length that you need to raise it, the impact on the houses on either side, impact on views, etc.

More practical would be to raise the railway by 1-2 metres, provide a pedestrian / bike / car-only underpass and a separate bus / goods vehicle-only overpass. There is of course the risk that you would attract HGVs to the area.

It might be good to consider reopening the train station, given that it now has a populated catchment area.

tabbey

Victor wrote: »

It might be good to consider reopening the train station, given that it now has a populated catchment area.

If my memory serves me correctly, Merrion and Sidney Parade were never open simultaneously, when one would reopen, the other would close.

Merrion was last open in 1934.

Of course neither was open between 1960 - 1972.