DART+ (DART Expansion)

DART+ West consultation 2 is up, that hideous virtual consultation room concept everyone is using now.

The Amiens Street Commuter entrance is to be turned in to offices, this was opposed by multiple submissions on the basis that it should be reopened instead (although we do have a dissenting voice to that on here). So this Preston Street one is the replacement for that.

I don't get why they can't incorporate an entrance into the office design, in a similar manner to pearse street

The anti-social behaviour at that entrance was beyond what any normal person would consider acceptable, including several extremely vicious assaults on staff members. That alone is reason not to reopen it, but the option just does not exist given the ongoing conversion of that space to offices.

The benefit that Preston Street has is that it is within the body of the station itself and it will mean two distinct exit routes directly from platforms 6 & 7 thereby splitting the crowd.

Not fronting onto Amiens Street is a good thing to be honest as sadly there continues to be significant amounts of anti-social behaviour taking place to this day.

Well I wish you luck with that. The problem is the street (Amiens Street) and immediate area surrounding it which has all sorts of social issues. Increased footfall hasn't changed that from what I can tell.

Over the time I've worked in that area, I've seen, all in broad daylight, frequent drug dealing, bag snatches, and on-street brawls, oh and a drugged-up couple having sex on a side lane.

The notion that all of that is suddenly going to change is ridiculous. The social problems in that area sadly are as bad as ever.

The risk of anti-social behaviour on the station premises and against station staff reduces, that's my point, as the new exit would be more difficult to get away from quickly as there's only one way anyone could go (as opposed to several from the old suburban exit).

But far more importantly the new exit would mean different entrance/exit flows from platforms six and seven which at peak times has to be a good thing. The old exit would still rely on the existing ramp.

To be fair that particular event, took place on an alleyway with no housing on it.

Preston Street is a proper street with housing opening onto it.

But sadly it would be fair to say that I'm much more aware of the social deprivation issues of the north inner city now, than I was before I started working there.

It will be interesting to see what the service patterns will be if the Spencer Dock station can theoretically provide services to Drogheda, Dunboyne, Maynooth and Sallins. I imagine that peak services will be facilitated to all destinations but it will be interesting to see what's accommodated on a clockface basis.

The former postal building is in use by a division of Google called Pointy. They might be moving over to the GCD area but not seen anything confirming that.

I'm fairly sure it is, and it wouldn't have been Irish Rail ownership anyway - it was An Post.

A suburban commuter station does not need anything more than a simple entrance.

There is a massive station building already on Amiens Street. We don't need another one.

You'll get your hole in the wall at Preston St and you'll like it

I'm not sure [i]need[/i] is too important, plenty of things are desirable even if not strictly needed. A nice station building with proper toilets (seeing as there won't be any on the trains), a cafe, some convenience retail, maybe even some community/event space which is not uncommon in train stations elsewhere, are all desirable. I'm sure you'll say what is proposed under the arches will be fine but it would be nice to go beyond fine sometimes. It may be aspirational but I think that is allowed from time to time.

Toilets, cafés and a shop are all available a 2-3 minute walk away along platform 4 in Connolly Station already.

I think you’re losing the run of yourself a bit. This isn’t a new station. It’s just another entrance to an existing one, Connolly, which already has full facilities.

As someone who works in the area, and taking previous history and my own experiences into account, I would strongly be of the view that a straightforward entrance with minimal facilities is exactly the best strategy for this entrance.

Not sure if you are referring to the Phoenix Park or not but I'm sure there would be resistance to giving anyone a piece of it. If you are referring to Dunsink, I think that would work. The land is unused now and has limited use potential for a very long time. They could have a much bigger facility there. Teagasc lands could be another option.

If nothing is going to be good enough for the owner, I think closing the LC with only pedestrian/cyclist bridge being provided is the only option. The road on the northern side is a couple of metres below the canal and a bridge would be several metres above due to clearance for the rail cables, I seriously doubt it will be possible to make the bridge levels work without obstructing the car park and delivery entrances at the back of the block containing Supervalu. I'm pretty sure that this is the only place they proposed going under the canal/rail line because going over just doesn't work.

And sorry for double-posting, I'm also trying to make sense of this table... no sign of any weighting in the documentation. How does more green in the Option column end up meaning green for the Do Minimum?