DART+ (DART Expansion)

yes

yes a redesign in the same location is possible.

Just a thought: the AIRR proposed both a new inter-city link between Clongriffin and Drogheda, and a (presumably DART) spur from Clongriffin to Dublin Airport. I think everyone agrees that the Clongriffin-Drogheda link is worth doing, but the Airport DART spur is seen as a bit of a waste of money.

So, as an alternative proposal, assuming that the Drogheda line will need to get around or through Swords anyway, why not drop the Airport spur, and instead, four-track the Clongriffin-Drogheda link as far as Swords - two fast tracks for inter-city, and two slow tracks for DART. Then you could add DART services between one of the three Swords Metro stops and the DART Northern line. A mainline station for Swords at that point would also give the option of changing between DART, mainline or Metro services, and would be very useful as a transport hub an area that’s expected to account for most of Co. Dublin’s future population growth. Further in the future, additional DART tracks could be added to the corridor beyond Swords (it would be madness to not take enough land for four tracks on any new rail alignment). This work could be done ahead of development (for once!) as a North-western complement to any extension of Metro North to the North.

As a bonus, Belfast people will get a nice connection to Dublin Airport by changing to Metro at Swords, just as passengers from other directions will be able to change at Tara or Glasnevin.

Fantastic to see DART SW completed years ahead of schedule!! 🫡

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/new-dart-station-in-south-dublin-finally-opens-after-15-years/a113864587.html

I’m not sure how they’ll get that mainline past Swords either - it seems crazy not to have any stop for Swords when building a brand new rail alignment so close to it. I don’t see a line following M1 here, but rather going West of Swords on a more direct route. At that trajectory, Fosterstown would be within distance. From there, to get to Drogheda, you wouldn’t follow the course of M1, but take a more direct NNW route (M1 runs East of Swords, strikes North until Stamullen, then turns Northwest for Drogheda).

As for four-tracking. I only mean to secure the land required for expansion where there's a possibility of service extension - the land is the cheapest part of a railway build, but it’s the hardest thing to acquire afterwards.. Point taken about Northwest/Border, but there I think it would be prudent to buy the width to accommodate a two-track alignment, even if only one track is built - basically, allow space for the next level of capacity. Drogheda-Clongriffen is one corridor where you’d expect more development over the next 50 years, and over that timescale it could justify a DART service parallel to the existing Northern one.

Just to second @Bsharp ’s post: In a previous job, our company was working on an medium-size infrastructure/services project for a government agency (not in Ireland). We knew our tender had been accepted months before any public announcement was made. After the tender acceptance, there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing on their side as various politicians had to sign various bits of paper to release the funding that would pay us - it was only after that was done that they made it public that the process was complete and we had won the contract. Legally, though, once a tender offer is officially accepted, there is a contract in place, so we were able to get going pretty quickly after the award.

? That's exactly my point.

If anything is happening, it's all completely behind closed doors and the general public - who are paying for this - have no idea what is going on. That isn't acceptable in my book.

As far as I can see, neither the IE nor Dart+ websites even make mention of the RO being granted, which is absolutely bizarre.

The Irish Times printing this as if it were news. This has been known for some time. The public interest is in maximising the use of the available network, and absent big improvements to track capacity, a curtailment of Howth branch direct service is sadly inevitable.

Here are the daily alightings from the last census:

If you count all the stations to Drogheda then there is a large majority over the Howth branch.

You could have a few morning peak trains using Clongriffin as a turnback, which would alleviate overcrowding at Howth Junction.

The figures quoted are referring to potential line capacity - those frequencies may not apply until later, but the detailed scheduling beyond this has not been done yet.

More importantly, the figure of 20 and 30 trains refers to the full 3 hour peak period in the morning inbound.

It isn't per hour.

Since the recent timetable change, between 07:00 and 10:00 through Malahide southbound there are:

• 9 DART paths
• 9 Outer Suburban paths
• 3 Enterprise paths