DART+ (DART Expansion)

How is it a bonkers plan?

Build a short stretch of new railway line and take Sligo inter cities away from a two track line to a four track line.

Heuston is in an awful place, absent DART Underground, it really isn't a good rail terminus.

Sending Sligo ICs to Heuston allows the Maynooth-Connolly to run at maximum potential.

There’s only a handful of such services a day.

We need to make the most of our limited resources.

Aside from the logic, yeah it’s bonkers. 🙄

Id have to find the qoute to find out which stations it was referencing but back during the transport committee debate with IE in early October, a TD asked about improvements to the Sligo line. In their experience it was significantly quicker getting into Dublin by driving to the nearest station on the Westport Line than the much closer stations on the Sligo line. So in practice it wouldn't surprise me if the difference is usually more than 10 minutes.

Of course part of that is likely that Athlone-HH is cleared for 160km/h, even though only 20km of 62km is cleared for it and the longest 160km/h is 5km, but if I had to guess a large part of that is the HH-Park West four-tracking. As D+ progresses I imagine the difference will only increase too. Completing the four tracking to Heuston will hopefully shorten IC jounries by a couple minutes, while the increased frequency on the Maynooth line will probably slow down Sligo service, taking close to the same as Maynooth DARTs.

The AISRR also mentions the link as being in the 100-200m euro range, which if true I think makes it a fairly good value for its benifits to the IC and DART network. However I will admit I am a bit skeptical of because most of the branch lines it reccomends are single-track non-electrified lines and they all have a similar cost. The only exceptions which are twin-tracked and electrified being the Maynooth-Adamstown link which and the Dublin airport link that it estimates as being 700-1100m euro.

If the dart underground was in place before the Maynooth to Heuston link was made would you still think it a bonkers idea? Personally that's the order I think they will be done.

Heuston is 15 minutes from O'Connell Bridge, while Connolly is about 15 minutes away also, accodring to the journeh planner. Some times are 12 minutes for both depending on time of day. So fairly insignificant when you consider that such a move would:

1. Allow increased frequency to Sligo
2. Allow Sligo passengers to reach connolly or Spencer Dock by changing to DART at Maynooth
3. Allow complete separation of DART and intercity meaning a better service for both.

15 minutes from an intersmcity rail terminus to the absolute core of the city is not bad by any international standard.

Connolly may be the busiest station but its far from the only final destination. Especially being an IC service the goal should be to get to its destination as quickly as possible, whether that be Heuston or Connolly, and for its destination to be a transport hub that can allow people access to the city. While both stations can definitely fill the roll of a transport hub, and yes while Connolly itself is a busy area, it will be much faster to get a service into Heuston.

Again, as frequency increases it will get to the point that Sligo services will take about the same amount of time to get to Connolly as the DARTs. At that point the best you can do is allow for some interchange at the last DART stop before the link, and then speed over to Heuston. People that want to specifically get to Connolly can do that with virtually no time loss, and passengers going to other areas in the city can get there quicker by changing modes at Heuston.

However, I will admit that Heuston needs a better DART connection ahead of DU, especially to Heuston West. Whether that be an APM, a shuttle, or something else, it needs at least some short term solutions to help with IC-DART transfers. I think IE and CIE have completely over looked having that connection both as a part of D+ SW and the Heuston Masterplan.

It was not even briefly mentioned as an option. Though if the goal was to completely separate IC and DART services I imagine it was at least considered at some early stage, as I can't imagine there were that many other options. It was probably just very expensive compared to the Maynooth-Adamstown Link, adding an extra track in such a space constrained area is always going to be expensive. And honestly I think Connolly-Clonsilla might be more space constrained than Connolly-Clongriffin, and that it really isn't feasible.

Connolly is a brisk walk from several of the big travel generators for Irish Rail, Heuston necessitates a 2nd mode of transport for basical any journey. It shouldnt be controversial to say that it is better placed as a station than Heuston from a passenger perspective.

Indeed if it were possible for all intercity services to go all the way to Connolly or Spencer Dock, that would certainly be preferable.

However, I will admit that Heuston needs a better DART connection ahead of DU, especially to Heuston West. Whether that be an APM, a shuttle, or something else, it needs at least some short term solutions to help with IC-DART transfers. I think IE and CIE have completely over looked having that connection both as a part of D+ SW and the Heuston Masterplan.

I suggested (before the new controller building was built behind Heuston which I think might now make it impossible) that there was room for a curve from the northern platforms in Heuston into the PPT and that this would make it possible to provide some sort of link from Hueston to the rest of the DART network.

Of course, running a DART service into and out of a terminal platform kills any hope of offerring a high frequency service - but nevertheless say 3 or 4 of the Kildare DARTS per hour could offer a (slower) Kildare-Hueston-(Spencer Dock/Connolly/GCD) service.

My suggestion wasn't received enthusiastically here, to put it mildly, from what I recall.

But I still think it could provide a lot of utility. By coordinating with intercity arrivals, 1-change transfer to either Spencer Dock or Connolly/Tara/Pearse/GCD could be made feasible for intercity passengers arriving in Heuston.

2026

The Heuston West connection for passengers arriving into Heuston is dreadful: you have to walk about 400m away from the station, then turn around and walk 600 m back. Faced with that, most would just keep walking east and get on the Luas, even if it's slower.

A continental-style pedestrian tunnel running under all the platforms at Heuston, and linking with HW would fix this problem, but I suspect there's little appetite for digging around under the mainlines until DART Underground is settled.

A continental-style pedestrian tunnel running under all the platforms at Heuston, and linking with HW would fix this problem, but I suspect there's little appetite for digging around under the mainlines until DART Underground is settled.

Yes this idea struck me before. Having a 2nd or even 3rd concourse under the platforms is very common in many stations around Europe, even in much smaller, less busy stations. My fantasy would be something like:

With entrances across from Military and Chesterfield Av. Fantasy, I know. And yeah never going to be considered before DART-U

Does Heuston's 8 platforms have the capacity to accomodate Sligo intercity services also or is Heuston going to be capacity-restricted at some point in the future? Especially given that it will also be taking Dart Southwest terminating services in future.

Just on the usefulness of Heuston, it is becoming far more accessible with the arrival of the BusConnects network with the N2 and S2 adding far more connectivity, with the O to follow.

Destinations west of O’Connell Bridge are in general better served by going to Heuston rather than trundling around via the PPT.

I see where you're coming from and it does make sense, but I just don't think there is the space to do that. Points and crossovers need a decent amount of space. and I think to make to the turn into the PPT tracks and clear platform 10/HW would need all the space it has available. And I think that does include the rebuilding the bridge to accommodate the extra track.

What really disappoints me most about the masterplan is that it feels like it doesn't really treat the area as an important rail terminus or as a transport hub. And it really just surprised me that there is no mention of extra platforms. Not at the Guinness sidings, not at the sidings besides platform 8, or even using the carpark for a new concourse with additional platforms. It honestly surprised me that D+SW doesn't have anything, as there should be something since they will be sending 4 DARTs into Heuston, which I think might leave even less space then there already is for future IC services.