Controversial Irish Rail extensions

ohographite

Please read these rules before posting:

This is a thread for people to share any idea for an extension to Irish Rail's network that they would like, but that they think is controversial.
It can be anything you'd like to see, whether you think it will happen or not.

Please do not make suggestions for extensions that you intend as a joke, such as a branch line just to serve one person's house.
Please do not make over the top criticism of other people's ideas either, such as calling them a joke, or saying they'd be the worst investment ever made in Ireland.

This is a thread for extensions to the Irish Rail network only, so it isn't for Luas or Metro line ideas.

CucamarMor

Reopening the old Waterford to Wexford line to create a link with Rosslare that serves the West and South of country.

ohographite

Here's my idea, to give an example:

Tramore to Waterford reopening + a line connecting it to Waterford Plunkett Station.

It would start on the seafront, kind of in the centre of Tramore, on an embankment. The embankment would circle the eastern edge of the town, protecting the park and houses from coastal erosion and flooding.
Then it would run along the original Waterford-Tramore railway trackbed until the southern edge of Waterford city. It would have a new station there for passengers travelling to or from the southern part of the city, since Plunkett station(which is on the northern edge of it) isn't much use to them.
Finally, it would run along the western edge of Waterford city, and cross the river Suir, to finish in Plunkett station.

All trains to and from Dublin would use the line as far as the Waterford south station.
Some of them would go to and from Tramore, too.

I do not believe any of this will happen, but I still think it should.

ohographite

CucamarMor wrote: »

Reopening the old Waterford to Wexford line to create a link with Rosslare that serves the West and South of country.

Is that the one via Bridgetown that closed in 2010?

whisky_galore

Navan. Railtour ban for years so locals wouldn't get wild ideas that passenger services can be run.

GerardKeating

CucamarMor wrote: »

Reopening the old Waterford to Wexford line to create a link with Rosslare that serves the West and South of country.

They could/should make a loop of it, with many/all Wexford train extended to waterford via the South Wexford line, and Waterford trains extended to Wexford as well, so trains would do

Connolly-Bray-Wexford-Waterford-Kilkenny-Hueston and the reverse.

River Suir

Extend the Northern line to Dublin Airport and quad track from Malahide to Connolly to allow for capacity. Start and finish all Dublin originated InterCity trains at Dublin Airport.

Lord Glentoran

As the OP specifies Irish Rail, extend the Sligo line to Donegal Town via Bundoran and with a view to extending to Letterkenny and Derry.

If NI Railways acceptable then extend the Derry line to Letterkenny.

Isambard

i can think of a few sensible ones , some plain stupid ones, but controversial ones are scarce.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Extend the Cork - Midleton line out to Youghal. Look into providing rail towards Carrigaline and Ballincollig once again. Carrigaline line could connect Ringaskiddy Port and Passage / Rochestown into town also.

Would absolutely love to see West Cork connected by rail again sometime in the future, down towards Skibbereen / Clonakilty / Bandon, etc, perhaps Kinsale too.

Connect up Shannon Airport and Dublin Airport to nearby mainline rail lines.

Connecting County Donegal by rail is a must IMO.

JeffK88

ohographite wrote: »

Here's my idea, to give an example:

Tramore to Waterford reopening + a line connecting it to Waterford Plunkett Station.

It would start on the seafront, kind of in the centre of Tramore, on an embankment. The embankment would circle the eastern edge of the town, protecting the park and houses from coastal erosion and flooding.
Then it would run along the original Waterford-Tramore railway trackbed until the southern edge of Waterford city. It would have a new station there for passengers travelling to or from the southern part of the city, since Plunkett station(which is on the northern edge of it) isn't much use to them.
Finally, it would run along the western edge of Waterford city, and cross the river Suir, to finish in Plunkett station.

All trains to and from Dublin would use the line as far as the Waterford south station.
Some of them would go to and from Tramore, too.

I do not believe any of this will happen, but I still think it should.

This could be done as a tourist railway and commuter something like a mini Muni like they have in San Francisco. Electrify the route and acquire some vintage trams/streetcars for a tourist/commuter route plus newer commuter stock similar to the muni-metro in SF. Never going to happen but that would be cool. Could even extend it along the promenade along the beach front.

end of the road

the athlone to mullingar mainline.
a railway through cavan and monaghan, would probably need to be a new route to be able to serve the main towns of the counties more directly.
they wouldn't be irish rail operations today if opened but i'm including them anyway, the derry road and reopen to armagh.

River Suir

ohographite wrote: »

Here's my idea, to give an example:

Tramore to Waterford reopening + a line connecting it to Waterford Plunkett Station.

It would start on the seafront, kind of in the centre of Tramore, on an embankment. The embankment would circle the eastern edge of the town, protecting the park and houses from coastal erosion and flooding.
Then it would run along the original Waterford-Tramore railway trackbed until the southern edge of Waterford city. It would have a new station there for passengers travelling to or from the southern part of the city, since Plunkett station(which is on the northern edge of it) isn't much use to them.
Finally, it would run along the western edge of Waterford city, and cross the river Suir, to finish in Plunkett station.

All trains to and from Dublin would use the line as far as the Waterford south station.
Some of them would go to and from Tramore, too.

I do not believe any of this will happen, but I still think it should.

Excellent idea, I would continue the Light Rail up to New Ross.

cgcsb

Restoring the West Cork railway would be a good start every town along the cost there is chockers with cars.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

cgcsb wrote: »

Restoring the West Cork railway would be a good start every town along the cost there is chockers with cars.

Imagine not only the local / Commuter traffic, but huge tourism opportunities too.

Closing the West Cork railways will go down as one of the major failings in Irish transport history.

GT89

Maybe not too controversial but build a station in Navan soon and run half hourly shuttles between Navan and Drogheda whilst working on extending and electrifying the line from M3 Parkway to Navan. Convert the Navan to Kingscourt stretch to Greenway.

end of the road

kingscourt line i believe is already in the process of being greenwayed.
wouldn't be on my list of reopenings anyway personally.
i don't think the factory that did use it puts out as much as it did these days does it, anyone know?

Geog1234

GT89 wrote: »

Maybe not too controversial but build a station in Navan soon and run half hourly shuttles between Navan and Drogheda whilat working on extending and electrifying the line from M3 Parkway to Navan. Convert the Navan to Kingscourt stretch to Greenway.

Fully agree with the potential for using Navan - Drogheda and the existing station is fit for purpose. Special trains operated as recent as the 1990s without any issue. Could be done but a smokescreen appears to be presented citing costs to upgrade the line to passenger standards which I don't fully buy. If a (passenger) train was driven to Navan in the morning I'm confident it would get there and back without any issues too.

Lord Glentoran

Geog1234 wrote: »

Fully agree with the potential for using Navan - Drogheda and the existing station is fit for purpose. Special trains operated as recent as the 1990s without any issue. Could be done but a smokescreen appears to be presented citing costs to upgrade the line to passenger standards which I don't fully buy. If a (passenger) train was driven to Navan in the morning I'm confident it would get there and back without any issues too.

Fully agree. Sounds like the excuses that prevented the Phoenix Park tunnel from being used for commuter trains for so long. Drogheda Navan is long overdue and would be an easy win

Del.Monte

Controversial Irish Rail extensions = anything outside the Greater Dublin Area.

Waterford to Cork.

cgcsb

Del.Monte wrote: »

Controversial Irish Rail extensions = anything outside the Greater Dublin Area.

What Irish Rail extensions have there been inside Greater Dublin in the last 100 years?

Lord Glentoran

cgcsb wrote: »

What Irish Rail extensions have there been inside Greater Dublin in the last 100 years?

Service extensions certainly, and for those of us with long memories all met with opposition, and from seemingly surprising quarters. The service to Maynooth, for example, was done by ministerial diktat in 1981 and was opposed by CIE. Now imagine West Dublin commuting without it. And if I had a penny for every wiseacre b1tching in the Sindo and the Turbine about DART I’d be a wealthy man.

whisky_galore

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrote: »

Closing the West Cork railways will go down as one of the major failings in Irish transport history.

One of the few lines locals put up any kind of a fight to resist closure.

Losty Dublin

Lord Glentoran wrote: »

Service extensions certainly, and for those of us with long memories all met with opposition, and from seemingly surprising quarters. The service to Maynooth, for example, was done by ministerial diktat in 1981 and was opposed by CIE. Now imagine West Dublin commuting without it. And if I had a penny for every wiseacre b1tching in the Sindo and the Turbine about DART I’d be a wealthy man.

There was a good reason why they opposed it; they had nothing left to run a new service and no way of paying it. Even their last bean at the time was bought on the never never and true to form the Kildare St mandarins wanted the service but they had no intention to pay for any of it. In the end they used 2600 push pull sets that were supposed to have been withdrawn and scrapped when Howth-Bray services were scaled down when the DART infrastructure was built.

Lord Glentoran

Losty Dublin wrote: »

There was a good reason why they opposed it; they had nothing left to run a new service and no way of paying it. Even their last bean at the time was bought on the never never and true to form the Kildare St mandarins wanted the service but they had no intention to pay for any of it. In the end they used 2600 push pull sets that were supposed to have been withdrawn and scrapped when Howth-Bray services were scaled down when the DART infrastructure was built.

I remember the push-pull sets well. Practically deteriorating daily, and not helped by feral little thugs stoning the trains or, in one memorable case, throwing a banger through an open window from the balcony of some flats near Croke Park.

Losty Dublin

Lord Glentoran wrote: »

I remember the push-pull sets well. Practically deteriorating daily, and not helped by feral little thugs stoning the trains or, in one memorable case, throwing a banger through an open window from the balcony of some flats near Croke Park.

How dare you insult inner city dwellers. Salta di Iirth, that's what they are :pac:

GT89

Geog1234 wrote: »

Fully agree with the potential for using Navan - Drogheda and the existing station is fit for purpose. Special trains operated as recent as the 1990s without any issue. Could be done but a smokescreen appears to be presented citing costs to upgrade the line to passenger standards which I don't fully buy. If a (passenger) train was driven to Navan in the morning I'm confident it would get there and back without any issues too.

If freight trains can run on it as is I don't see why passenger trains can't run too. Why not electrify it and run Dublin-Navan-Drogheda trains in the long run. I mean Navan and Drogheda are big towns that would justify a rail service between the two.

ohographite

cgcsb wrote: »

What Irish Rail extensions have there been inside Greater Dublin in the last 100 years?

Only Clonsilla to M3 Parkway.
I think there should've been a lot more, and I have 3 suggestions which haven't been suggested on this thread yet:

1. A brand new line running from M3 Parkway, through Rathoath(with a station there), to Ashbourne.

2. A brand new line from Hazelhatch to Maynooth, which would hug the western edge of Celbridge, and which would have one new station there.
It would be triple-tracked. Two tracks would be for suburban trains, and the third would be for Sligo trains so they can be diverted via the heuston-hazelhatch multi track, and the phoenix park tunnel.
This means they can zoom out of Dublin, which they can't do from Connolly to Maynooth via Ashtown if it gets a more frequent commuter train service(commuter trains would slow it down on just a double track).

3. A little bit of track connecting Docklands station with the line that runs through Drumcondra station, so commuter trains going to Docklands can stop in Drumcondra instead of running on that other line with no stations on it.
That means this other line with no stations on it can be used for Sligo trains, so(with my 2nd suggestion) this'd mean Sligo trains can get out of Dublin without sharing most of their right of way with commuter trains.

River Suir

ohographite wrote: »

Only Clonsilla to M3 Parkway.
I think there should've been a lot more, and I have 3 suggestions which haven't been suggested on this thread yet:

1. A brand new line running from M3 Parkway, through Rathoath(with a station there), to Ashbourne.

2. A brand new line from Hazelhatch to Maynooth, which would hug the western edge of Celbridge, and which would have one new station there.
It would be triple-tracked. Two tracks would be for suburban trains, and the third would be for Sligo trains so they can be diverted via the heuston-hazelhatch multi track, and the phoenix park tunnel.
This means they can zoom out of Dublin, which they can't do from Connolly to Maynooth via Ashtown if it gets a more frequent commuter train service(commuter trains would slow it down on just a double track).

3. A little bit of track connecting Docklands station with the line that runs through Drumcondra station, so commuter trains going to Docklands can stop in Drumcondra instead of running on that other line with no stations on it.
That means this other line with no stations on it can be used for Sligo trains, so(with my 2nd suggestion) this'd mean Sligo trains can get out of Dublin without sharing most of their right of way with commuter trains.

The proposal to link Maynooth to Hazelhatch has been mentioned here before and I think it would add huge value to not only the Sligo service but also potentially pave the way to reopening the Athlone-Moate-Mullingar section to handle some Galway or Westport trains as well.

I'm not sure about moving Sligo trains through the PPT - I would start them from Heuston until which point the Dart Underground line was built.

If the DU does get built does that leave open the prospect of a proper Central Rail and Bus terminus for Dublin? It could for instance be on the site of the present Connolly station but would need a bigger footprint.

Rulmeq

.

DoctorPan

ohographite wrote: »

2. A brand new line from Hazelhatch to Maynooth,

Considering the new Dart depot is being put on the Maynooth line, I can see it being built to prevent stupid amounts of mileage for ECS from Hazelhatch.

Pete_Cavan

DoctorPan wrote: »

Considering the new Dart depot is being put on the Maynooth line, I can see it being built to prevent stupid amounts of mileage for ECS from Hazelhatch.

Surely some stabling will be provided at HH so trains can overnight there for the first services of the day?

sweet_trip

In a galaxy far far away.



Regular commuter trains From Cahir to Waterford.
Regular commuter trains from Wexford to Waterford.
Regular commuter trains from Kilkenny to Waterford
Regular commuter trains from New Ross to Waterford
Regular commuter trains from Tramore/Dungarvan to Waterford.
Trains from Waterford to Limerick City and none of this Limerick Junction shíte.
Trains from Waterford that match up with the Rosslare Ferry.
Express/direct trains from Waterford to Dublin.
Double track Waterford to Dublin, or at least insert more loops.

Plunkett station on the North quays with a sheltered pedestrian bridge to Red square. Regular busses from said station into the city.



Honestly it's so sad that the infrastructure is/was there to have an amazing train service serving the South East. Considering how mad busy the roads are in the morning with traffic compromising of workers and students it COULD be such a heavily utilised system if we were like The Netherlands or Japan etc.



This is total day dream pie in the sky shíte though.

L1011

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Surely some stabling will be provided at HH so trains can overnight there for the first services of the day?

Outstationing ends up needing quite a lot of facilities for toilet tank offloading and cleaning

ohographite

DoctorPan wrote: »

Considering the new Dart depot is being put on the Maynooth line, I can see it being built to prevent stupid amounts of mileage for ECS from Hazelhatch.

What is ECS?

Del.Monte

ohographite wrote: »

What is ECS?

Empty stock workings.

DoctorPan

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Surely some stabling will be provided at HH so trains can overnight there for the first services of the day?

No mention for the provision of staff support, cleaning or toliet empting facilites within the Kildare line tender.

From the tenders, the infrastructure break down seems to be depot in Maynooth and Drogheda, stabling points in Greystones and Drogheda off the top of my head.

Lord Glentoran

sweet_trip wrote: »

In a galaxy far far away.



Regular commuter trains From Cahir to Waterford.
Regular commuter trains from Wexford to Waterford.
Regular commuter trains from Kilkenny to Waterford
Regular commuter trains from New Ross to Waterford
Regular commuter trains from Tramore/Dungarvan to Waterford.
Trains from Waterford to Limerick City and none of this Limerick Junction shíte.
Trains from Waterford that match up with the Rosslare Ferry.
Express/direct trains from Waterford to Dublin.
Double track Waterford to Dublin, or at least insert more loops.

Plunkett station on the North quays with a sheltered pedestrian bridge to Red square. Regular buses from said station into the city.



Honestly it's so sad that the infrastructure is/was there to have an amazing train service serving the South East. Considering how mad busy the roads are in the morning with traffic compromising of workers and students it COULD be such a heavily utilised system if we were like The Netherlands or Japan etc.



This is total day dream pie in the sky shíte though.

All achievable without spending immense sums but pie in the sky in the Irish context. Rail infrastructure is expendable in this country. The perverse thing is that when the population expands it will all be needed.

cgcsb

sweet_trip wrote: »

In a galaxy far far away.



Regular commuter trains From Cahir to Waterford.
Regular commuter trains from Wexford to Waterford.
Regular commuter trains from Kilkenny to Waterford
Regular commuter trains from New Ross to Waterford
Regular commuter trains from Tramore/Dungarvan to Waterford.
Trains from Waterford to Limerick City and none of this Limerick Junction shíte.
Trains from Waterford that match up with the Rosslare Ferry.
Express/direct trains from Waterford to Dublin.
Double track Waterford to Dublin, or at least insert more loops.

Plunkett station on the North quays with a sheltered pedestrian bridge to Red square. Regular busses from said station into the city.



Honestly it's so sad that the infrastructure is/was there to have an amazing train service serving the South East. Considering how mad busy the roads are in the morning with traffic compromising of workers and students it COULD be such a heavily utilised system if we were like The Netherlands or Japan etc.



This is total day dream pie in the sky shíte though.

I don't see serious demand for such extensive commuter services to Waterford. The reason Dublin has that amount of commuter services is because of the cost of housing in Dublin, forcing long distance commutes. You can buy a small house or an apartment in Waterford city centre for the cost of the deposit on similar in Dublin. Property in Wexford or Cahir isn't much cheaper than in Waterford to buy or rent. I don't think it's a good thing for that to happen either. Waterford should develop as a more densely populated city with lots of housing in and around the centre without a need for epic commutes.

Pete_Cavan

L1011 wrote: »

Outstationing ends up needing quite a lot of facilities for toilet tank offloading and cleaning

Has it been confirmed that stock will be operating the DART service to HH will have toilets?

In this case, surely the operational benefits of providing such facilities on a small scale would outweigh the costs? There would be so much dead running between HH and Maynooth and the cost of a direct link would be significant.

DoctorPan wrote: »

No mention for the provision of staff support, cleaning or toliet empting facilites within the Kildare line tender.

From the tenders, the infrastructure break down seems to be depot in Maynooth and Drogheda, stabling points in Greystones and Drogheda off the top of my head.

Noted. Hopefully providing these on a smaller scale wasn't seen as necessary to mention in the project description. It could of course be added to the scope later if necessary.

DoctorPan

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

Has it been confirmed that stock will be operating the DART service to HH will have toilets?

Yes, Peter Smythe mentioned this during a talk given to Enginers Ireland that with the expected lenght of runs, they would have to give toliets.

Noted. Hopefully providing these on a smaller scale wasn't seen as necessary to mention in the project description. It could of course be added to the scope later if necessary.

They would have to be included in the actual tender, which they weren't. Of course they could be added but would cost extra as it being a scope increase.

bennyineire

sweet_trip wrote: »

In a galaxy far far away.



Regular commuter trains From Cahir to Waterford.
Regular commuter trains from Wexford to Waterford.
Regular commuter trains from Kilkenny to Waterford
Regular commuter trains from New Ross to Waterford
Regular commuter trains from Tramore/Dungarvan to Waterford.
Trains from Waterford to Limerick City and none of this Limerick Junction shíte.
Trains from Waterford that match up with the Rosslare Ferry.
Express/direct trains from Waterford to Dublin.
Double track Waterford to Dublin, or at least insert more loops.

Plunkett station on the North quays with a sheltered pedestrian bridge to Red square. Regular busses from said station into the city.



Honestly it's so sad that the infrastructure is/was there to have an amazing train service serving the South East. Considering how mad busy the roads are in the morning with traffic compromising of workers and students it COULD be such a heavily utilised system if we were like The Netherlands or Japan etc.



This is total day dream pie in the sky shíte though.

I take it you're from Waterford then

sweet_trip

cgcsb wrote: »

I don't see serious demand for such extensive commuter services to Waterford. The reason Dublin has that amount of commuter services is because of the cost of housing in Dublin, forcing long distance commutes. You can buy a small house or an apartment in Waterford city centre for the cost of the deposit on similar in Dublin. Property in Wexford or Cahir isn't much cheaper than in Waterford to buy or rent. I don't think it's a good thing for that to happen either. Waterford should develop as a more densely populated city with lots of housing in and around the centre without a need for epic commutes.

When I say Regular, it only has to mean maybe 2 or 3 trains each way in the morning, afternoon and evening to cater for commuters.

If you knew the southeast you'd know that all of these roads are heavily commuted every morning and all of the towns mentioned become totally clogged at rush hour.



You have traffic jams every morning coming into and out of waterford and it can take 45 minutes to travel a few kilometers from Newrath Dual carriageway to WIT or UHW.
It's a total headwreck for people.

Most people are commuting upwards of 1 hour from Clonmel, Wexford, Kilkenny, Carlow, and Dungarvan into the City and vice versa. Even longer if you're one of the unlucky ones commuting from further afield like Tipp Town.

City traffic jams aside, the roads Leading from Tipperary are extremely dangerous and full of traffic. It's very similar to the old Waterford to Dublin road. Very few places to safely overtake and lines of trucks for miles.

From South Wexford most have to rely on the Ferry which is an essential link but it's so slow, expensive and the roads arent suitable anymore.

The bus service between these towns are subpar and essentially non existant for all the smaller towns and villages in between. It's really eroded in past decade too.

The South East is badly neglected in terms of public transport despite all the infrastructure originally being there.

You don't need the frequency of the DART but a handful of properly planned commuter trains every morning would do the world of good and people would actually use them.

I'd even be in favour of having a lot of the smaller villages having stops too, like Kilsheelan, Fiddown/Piltown, Mooncoin, and same for the other directison, Kilmacthomas, Tramore, Mullinavat, Wellingtonbridge, etc.

Of course this would have to involve major upgrades, because as it stands the Limerick Junction line is in ruins, and will more than likely never re-open. The Rosslare/Wexford line is dead.

The Kilkenny line is the best but even still speeds of the trains aren't ideal either.

bennyineire wrote: »

I take it you're from Waterford then

I don't actually live in Waterford, but I do a lot of driving all over the south east for work. All 5 counties so I see the potential for good commuter train services serving the workers and students of the South East.
Of course I only mention these lines because it's where I'm from.
I don't know a thing about rail network in the rest of the country because I've never even used a train to go to the west, or south of the county. So not my place to comment.

Pete_Cavan

DoctorPan wrote: »

They would have to be included in the actual tender, which they weren't. Of course they could be added but would cost extra as it being a scope increase.

The extra cost for such a scope increase on the consultancy contract would be negligible. The additional cost for constructing the necessary facilities would be small in terms of the overall DART Expansion project.

How is it envisaged a DART terminating at HH get to a depot at Maynooth? Turn back, go through PPT to Drumcondra, driver go to other end and drive to Maynooth? Seems like lot of hassle for every HH line DART to do twice a day.

River Suir

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

The extra cost for such a scope increase on the consultancy contract would be negligible. The additional cost for constructing the necessary facilities would be small in terms of the overall DART Expansion project.

How is it envisaged a DART terminating at HH get to a depot at Maynooth? Turn back, go through PPT to Drumcondra, driver go to other end and drive to Maynooth? Seems like lot of hassle for every HH line DART to do twice a day.

It's not a huge distance between Maynooth and Hazelhatch as the crow flies. A link between the two stations would be beneficial.

IE 222

Do toilets need to be emptied daily?? Either way sets can be rotated in service on a day by day basis much like the ICR's.

Pete_Cavan

River Suir wrote: »

It's not a huge distance between Maynooth and Hazelhatch as the crow flies. A link between the two stations would be beneficial.

But be a hell of a lot more expensive and take a hell of a lot longer to create than putting in stabling facilities at HH.

sweet_trip

Arent toilets emptied daily onto the tracks as the train moves or is that a thing of the past now?

Grew up along the Rosslare line and remember many big shítes on the track :pac:

end of the road

sweet_trip wrote: »

Arent toilets emptied daily onto the tracks as the train moves or is that a thing of the past now?

Grew up along the Rosslare line and remember many big shítes on the track :pac:

emptying on to the tracks is no more now.
trains have toilet tanks now which are emptied at the depots.

ohographite

Pete_Cavan wrote: »

But be a hell of a lot more expensive and take a hell of a lot longer to create than putting in stabling facilities at HH.

I'm not denying that, but there are more advantages to this potential line than not having to put stabling facilities in Hazelhatch.
I list three advantages below:

1. The line I suggest would run along the western edge of Celbridge, so a station can be built around there.
After the DART is extended to Hazelhatch, it can be extended from there to Maynooth via this line.
This would give Celbridge a DART station conveniently closer to the centre of the town than Hazelhatch is.

2. This line could also stop Dublin-Sligo journey times from rising (due to DART expansion on the current Maynooth line), if Sligo trains ran to Connolly via this line, through Hazelhatch and Clondalkin, and then through the phoenix park tunnel.

3. Finally, if all the DART trains planned to run to Hazelhatch continued to Maynooth, that would connect two DART routes together, and allow people to travel by train from Clondalkin to Leixlip, or from Celbridge to Clonsilla, to give two examples.