MYSTIC VALLEY RAILWAY SOCIETY    

Lines From Ireland


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By James Scannell

 

Capital spending on a number of transport projects under the Transport 21 scheme have been cut back and in May it was announced that the proposed Dublin DART underground system for the city which will run from Inchicore on the west of the downtown area, thru the downtown area, terminating in the Dockland area, east of the downtown area where the International Financial Services Centre is located, has been delayed. Originally scheduled to be completed by late 2015 / early 2016, it is not now expected to be completed until 2018. It is expected that construction on the 8.2km line will commence in early 2012. 

 

The DART underground will link in with the DART, Commuter and Intercity (long distance) trains, LUAS and Metro services to form a fully integrated rail network. 

 

It is expected that some of the funding from the scheme will come from the European Investment Bank and potential private investors who would like to take a stake in the project and receive a share of the profit when the line is up and running. They have until July 20th to register their interest in being involved. 

 

7.6km of the track will be laid in tunnels 24 meters deep under the city and will require the deployment of 2 tunnel boring machines. It is expected that upwards of 7000 jobs will be created during the construction phase with thousands more indirectly when the line opens. 

 

In June DART commuters were able to avail of Smart Cards in place of buying rail tickets as all DART stations have been now equipped with Smart Card entry and exit gates and vending machines which commuters use to top up their cards. A similar type of card is used on LUAS but is not interchangeable with the DART though work on providing an integrated Smart Card for use on Dublin Bus, LUAS and all DART and Irish Rail services is currently in the development stage. 

 

In July the overhead wires on the southside LUAS Red line extension southwards from Sandyford to Cherrywood were energized and testing of the line and driver training is in now in progress and will continue until October or December when it’s expected that the line will be open for commuter traffic. It’s expected that Dublin Bus and a number of other bus operators will use the Cherrywood station as a hub to serve passengers in the North Wicklow Area and it’s believed that new bus schedules for some routes are now being prepared with this eventuality in mind. 

 

Also going through the final planning phase is the Metro North line which will operate from downtown Dublin to Dublin Airport and serving a number of areas in between.