DART+ (DART Expansion)

Upgrading the Maynooth line as planned in DART+ West and then only giving a choice of Drumcondra or the Docks with only a bus/Luas or hike back to Connolly or the city centre would seem a backward step. Docklands is useful as an option for those it suits as a destination and as a way to get extra capacity but Connolly/TaraSt/Pearse (as destination or for transfer to DART) is where the majority want to go.

I can't see Maynooth services to Connolly being dropped after only DART+ West. Won't be at least until one of the proposed tunnels is operational: Either Metrolink allowing a transfer a city bound Metro at Glasnevin or a DART Underground allowing the trains to continue past Docklands (swing back to Pearse etc).

it would be slightly ridiculous to "upgrade" the Dart and then make it so you can't transfer from one Dart line to another without a 15 minute walk.

yeah I wasn't clear whether Glasnevin would be available before Metrolink opens (which will probably be 5 years after Dart+)

You'd still have the question of whether there will be capacity if large numbers of Maynooth-line passengers are trying to pile onto (already packed) Kildare-line Darts at Glasnevin to get to the City Centre. I guess the plan is that between some transferring onto the Luas, and some going onto Docklands the numbers will spread themselves out.

exactly . The FAQs are stating

Will any services to stations stop/be affected by the project?

The project will continue to serve all the existing stations along the Maynooth and M3 Parkway lines (including Pelletstown which is under construction). Some DART+ West services will terminate at the new Spencer Dock Station. The main change will be positive as there will be more frequent train services and higher passenger capacity.

Connolly is the primary stop for the IFSC. So yeah people definitely want to go to Connolly.

Maybe for silicon docks but Connolly is still best for the North quays

 And what's happening there that needs a such a delay on another consultation?

The first proposals (August 2020) were pretty widely accepted by the locals. However, when the second consulation happened, they had completely redone the proposals for Ashtown and rerouted the road through the stables, completely obliterating them with no real explanation why. As you can imagine, this didn't go down well.

Yeah but if there was no stables built near the line to Drogheda. It wouldn't be a very big issue to discuss it as it would be irrelevant for that part of the project.

However if there was any other prebuilt structures in place that may give some negative connotations within the area regarding the ongoing status of the project. It would make sense to have it included for DART+ NC itself alongside the main proposals for the project if the intention was there to release it so that good lessons will be learnt from Ashtown.

I don't live around those parts of the Northern rail line itself. But it maybe a good idea to keep an eye on what is going on with Ashtown when it gets released in May. It may guage a better picture as to what's going on with it regarding any potential pitfalls being ironed out etc.

Here are the slides from the first consultation showing the road going through the stables.

No, those pictures show the road going around the stables. Look at the bottom graphic in your post, the stables are still there.

I thought the Ashtown solution was a really good one. It took all of the through-traffic out of the small central village area and created the possibility for greater enhancement on both sides of the railway.

If the intent was always to acquire the stables, then IE were trying to pull a fast one in the first consultation because it absolutely wasn't made clear, hence the general local agreement first time round and outrage the second.

The other side to this is train gets into docklands faster no delays and (depending where you get on it) less stops. Also it takes a good 5 mins to exit Connolly. Which large nullifies any time differences walking from Docklands causes. If you combine this with Dublin Bike the Dockland Station is often the quicker choice.

This struck me as absolutely bizarre, that IE had pitched this from day one but absolutely no one picked up on it?

So I went back and looked at the MCA that led them to "option 2" as the preferred option. There is a reference to "significant impact" on the stables arising from loss of agricultural land. Now, it's a big stretch to say that people should have interpreted "significant impact" as "ceasing to exist after we CPO the land".

And you might look at that graphic and think it's obvious that the stables are going, I think it's debatable at least, to me it looks like they'll lose a shed. But none of this explains why it all sailed over everyone's head first time around but is now raising uproar at all levels.

And IE did change the route after the locals approved of the first version. That's not up for debate, is it?

proposed train frequencies for those that don't want to trawl through all the docs:

I note all the services (other than the Enterprise) will stop at all stations, that'll be fun coming from Dundalk.