Procurement Process For Dart Underground Begins

FlameoftheWest

I find the bolded part interesting.

Procurement Process For Dart Underground Begins

Date: 09 February 2010
PROCUREMENT PROCESS FOR DART UNDERGROUND BEGINS



EU JOURNAL NOTICE INFORMING INTERESTED PARTIES & INVITING MARKET SOUNDINGS

The procurement process for the DART Underground rail project has commenced with the publication today of a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) informing interested parties of the project and inviting market soundings from participants.



It is the first major phase in what is set to be a year of major significance in the development of DART Underground, with the application for a Railway Order also due to be lodged next month.



DART Underground will run underground through the heart of Dublin City Centre. The tunnel will be approximately 7.6 Km in length and will connect the Northern & Kildare rail lines, with underground stations at Docklands, Pearse, St. Stephen’s Green, Christchurch and Heuston as well as a new surface station at Inchicore. It will, for the first time, link all rail systems together into an integrated and cohesive network – DART, Commuter, Intercity, Luas and Metro.

With capacity for DART services to operate up to every 3 minutes, DART Underground will complete the transformation of the Greater Dublin Area’s rail service capacity from 33 million passenger journeys annually now to over 100 million passenger journeys. The project is a central part of the Government’s Transport 21 investment plan and will be the single most important piece of infrastructure in the state to ensure a modal shift from private to public transport.



Procurement – Periodic Indicative Notice

The DART Underground Project will be procured as a public private partnership (PPP), and the publication in the OJEU of the Periodic Indicative Notice (PIN) is the first stage of the competitive process to select a private partner for its delivery.



The PIN informs interested parties, such as potential contractors, of the proposed scope and duration of the PPP contract. It also states that DART Underground intends to publish a Contract Notice in the Official Journal of the EU in the second quarter of 2010, which will set out a process to pre-qualify potential private partners who will be invited to tender and negotiate for award of the PPP contract through a competitive process.



Under the PPP contract the successful private partner will be responsible for the design, construction, financing, commissioning, operation and maintenance of the tunnel, stations and associated facilities over the period of the PPP contract. At this stage, the contract is envisaged to last for between 25 and 35 years, including the design and construction stages. In return the private partner will receive an annual availability and performance based payment.

Iarnród Éireann will at all times retain responsibility for the operation of DART services through the tunnel, which will be handed back to Iarnród Éireann at the end of the concession period.



The PIN also alerts interested parties, principally potential contractors, to Iarnród Éireann’s market sounding exercise. Interested parties who register their interest will receive the DART Underground Market Consultation brochure, which includes a questionnaire and invites views on the scope and procurement of the contract. Replies are due by 4 March 2010.

In the interim Iarnród Éireann has prepared a reference design to support its application for a Railway Order at the end of March 2010. By addressing regulatory and planning issues early in the procurement process, Iarnród Éireann expects to provide greater certainty to its stakeholders, bidders and funders as to safety, cost and the potential to attract significant private finance.



DART Underground

DART Underground will facilitate two high capacity DART lines, proposed as Drogheda/Howth to Hazelhatch and Maynooth to Greystones. DART trains on the Northern line will by-pass Connolly Station, enter the tunnel at Docklands and continue on to underground stations at Pearse, St. Stephen’s Green, Christchurch and Heuston. Trains will emerge from the tunnel past Heuston Station at Inchicore, enabling future DART services onward to all stations to Hazelhatch in Co. Kildare. This in turn frees up Connolly Station and facilitates a new high frequency DART line with greatly increased capacity from Maynooth through Connolly and all the way to Greystones.



It provides the missing link that that will connect all rail services together into an integrated and cohesive network – DART, Commuter, Intercity, Luas and Metro:



· Docklands Station with the expanded Luas Red Line

· Pearse Station will become a central transport hub as both DART lines interchange there, opening up a web of new rail connections. Pearse will also link with outer Commuter services.

· St. Stephen’s Green will have convenient access to the Luas Green Line and the proposed Metro North to the Airport and Swords.

· Christchurch with future Luas City Centre-Lucan line.

· Heuston Station links to Intercity services from the South and the West, outer Commuter trains and the Luas Red Line.



Trains will emerge from the tunnel at Inchicore, where there will be a new surface DART station to benefit the local community.



It is set to be developed with a capacity for up to 20 trains each direction per hour, allowing up to 64,000 commuters to use the line hourly.



Two tunnels, each containing a single track, will be excavated using Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM’s). The tunnel entrances will be on Iarnród Éireann land at Inchicore and in the Docklands, and the average depth of the tunnel is estimated at 24 metres, over 80 feet, below ground level. There is potential for more than 75% of the spoil to be removed by rail.





The Docklands to Inchicore DART Underground line will deliver:

- a second high capacity DART line through the heart of the city centre

- dramatically increased frequency and capacity for services on the Northern, Maynooth and Kildare lines – the three fastest growing population corridors in the country – and relieving the current congestion at Connolly Station.

- a fully integrated rail network for the Greater Dublin area, linking all modes and ensuring that suburb to suburb as well as suburb to city centre journeys can be made by a frequent, high capacity public transport network

- two high capacity DART lines proposed as Drogheda/Howth to Hazelhatch and Maynooth to Greystones, with DART extensions to some routes likely to be delivered in advance of DART Underground

- a critical piece of urban, regional and national infrastructure

- between 6,000 and 7,000 jobs directly in each year of the construction phase, with many thousands more jobs indirectly







Further information is available on Irish Rail’s website at;

http://[URL="http://www.irishrail.ie/dartunderground"]http://www.irishrail.ie/dartunderground [/URL]

Dally

Interesting alright. I wasn't aware of the duration of the contract.

Cookie_Monster

Great so we'll have to stop and pay a toll on the DART now too, just like all the other PPP.

Boo urns, I say, boo urns :mad:

aliveandkicking

Right now it makes sense to do both Dart Underground and Metro as PPPs. If these projects were to be funded directly by the state now it is likely they would be postponed/cancelled as the country simply doesn't have the €9bn to pay for these over the next few years. We'll end up paying more over the long term but at least we'll have the economic benefits from initial construction to operation of the first trains without having a €9bn outlay straight away.

Cookie_Monster

aliveandkicking wrote: »

Right now it makes sense to do both Dart Underground and Metro as PPPs. If these projects were to be funded directly by the state now it is likely they would be postponed/cancelled as the country simply doesn't have the €9bn to pay for these over the next few years. We'll end up paying more over the long term but at least we'll have the economic benefits from initial construction to operation of the first trains without having a €9bn outlay straight away.

I love how they can just magic up money for the banks but not anything else

jesus_thats_gre

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I love how they can just magic up money for the banks but not anything else

I think they used all their magic up on finding money for the banks..

dowlingm

Does anyone know if the electrification of the Kildare approach trackage will extend in Heuston? In my view it should (not all platforms) so that some trains could terminate in Heuston in the event of a tunnel closure.

Cookie_Monster

dowlingm wrote: »

Does anyone know if the electrification of the Kildare approach trackage will extend in Heuston? In my view it should (not all platforms) so that some trains could terminate in Heuston in the event of a tunnel closure.

contingency planning?

We all know how good Ireland is at that

KC61

dowlingm wrote: »

Does anyone know if the electrification of the Kildare approach trackage will extend in Heuston? In my view it should (not all platforms) so that some trains could terminate in Heuston in the event of a tunnel closure.

I would doubt it as it will only be the DART Underground services that will be electric operated - why extend to Heuston?

Cool Mo D

KC61 wrote: »

I would doubt it as it will only be the DART Underground services that will be electric operated - why extend to Heuston?

In case of a problem with the tunnel, DART services could terminate at a platform in Heuston, rather then be cancelled.

Son of Stupido

It was mentioned a while ago that once the interconnector was built, the Dart trains would be double decker (like in many other european cities).

Anyone heard any news on this?

paulm17781

Son of Stupido wrote: »

It was mentioned a while ago that once the interconnector was built, the Dart trains would be double decker (like in many other european cities).

Anyone heard any news on this?

The tunnel is meant to be big enough to cater for them. When it will happen is another matter. IIRC, the 100million P/A figure assumes the double decker trains.

That said, this is all from memory and I have no documentation to back it up.

KevR

Double Decker trains is interesting, first I have heard of it.

How much more expensive will it be to have the bigger tunnels? How long will the trains and platforms be? I would have thought that it would have been cheaper to just make the platforms and trains longer and have narrower tunnels...

markpb

KevR wrote: »

Double Decker trains is interesting, first I have heard of it.

How much more expensive will it be to have the bigger tunnels? How long will the trains and platforms be? I would have thought that it would have been cheaper to just make the platforms and trains longer and have narrower tunnels...

I don't think there's any specific plan to move to double height trains. Irish Rail have quite sensibly been slowly upgrading the network to allow it to happen in the future. If bridges were being upgraded for something else, they were also raised to allow double height trains to pass through.

There's a limit to how long trains and platforms can be, especially when dealing with existing stations.

KC61

Cool Mo D wrote: »

In case of a problem with the tunnel, DART services could terminate at a platform in Heuston, rather then be cancelled.

I would imagine they would terminate at Inchicore.

Roryhy

I heard about double decker trains years ago but its a long term plan, all upgrades made will cater for them but theres no need for them with current demand. I think 8 carriages is the longest any underground system makes the trains, making platforms longer involves huge costs. Double decker trains utilise the space between the wheels(i.e. just inches from the tracks) to lower the ground floor so the level of the upper floor isnt as high as it would otherwise be. The tunnels wouldnt need to be a whole lot bigger.

HonalD

What about the existing overbridges?

Roryhy

They will obviously need to be upgraded before the trains are put into service. Dont expect to see them this decade.

paulm17781

Roryhy wrote: »

I think 8 carriages is the longest any underground system makes the trains, making platforms longer involves huge costs. [/IMG]

I thought the tube had longer trains than this. Does anyone know for sure?

dowlingm

Irish Rail have quite sensibly been slowly upgrading the network to allow it to happen in the future. If bridges were being upgraded for something else, they were also raised to allow double height trains to pass through.

Is there a link to an official document saying this? What height have the 4-tracked station passenger overbridges at places like Hazelhatch been built to?

Here in North America most new and expanding heavy rail systems are being built with bilevel carriages but that's because the dynamic envelope of the network already allows for doublestack freight containers and platforms, loops and storage yards don't have to be extended - although the doublestack measurements don't always accommodate bilevel+catenary, so some work will have to be done on the Toronto Lakeshore route which is currently 4000hp loco+12 pushpull bilevels.

AMT (Montreal) and New Jersey Transit are starting to receive a batch of multilevels which are sized to lower tunnels in both regions - 14 feet 7 inches. A standard Bombardier bilevel is just short of 16 feet. For electric you need to add a few more inches to accomodate the pantograph.

Son of Stupido

Double-deckers are standard in a lot of other european cities, and are actually not that much higher than conventional trains, as has been pointed out above. The space gained is between the wheels. Personally I would prefer these to longer trains, and I am sure they would be much more cost effetive (less carraiges to service, platforms to lengthen etc.

A lot of the new bridges which IE are putting in would easily accommodate them IMO.

Cookie_Monster

Roryhy wrote: »

I heard about double decker trains years ago but its a long term plan, all upgrades made will cater for them but theres no need for them with current demand. I think 8 carriages is the longest any underground system makes the trains, making platforms longer involves huge costs. Double decker trains utilise the space between the wheels(i.e. just inches from the tracks) to lower the ground floor so the level of the upper floor isnt as high as it would otherwise be. The tunnels wouldnt need to be a whole lot bigger.

Doesn't New York have 10 carriage trains?

The second pic is Dutch but where's the first?

Roryhy

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Doesn't New York have 10 carriage trains?

The second pic is Dutch but where's the first?

Well its english speaking as i can see exit signs, and they drive on the right(you can see the back of the seats on the train) so i'd imagine its the U.S. or Canada. I just found those pics on google images. The dutch train looks pretty cool IMO

antoinolachtnai

The Yamanote line has 11 carriage trains which are around 200m long. It's heavy, wide rail, so is somewhat comparable to DART. They operate them at pretty high frequencies, up to 30 trains per hour. That will give you 48000 passengers per hour in each direction.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060625x1.html

Really, if you have good management, operations and signalling Dublin will never have a need for double decker trains.

Even using trains of the current length, you should be able to do 16,000 passengers per hour, in both directions. It is proposed that there be two separate lines, so that would be 32,000 passengers per hour in each direction. The main problem would be finding enough space on the pavement to put all those people when they came out of the station, because at peak time you would be disgorging a few thousand people per minute at the central point.

Note: obviously, the yamanote does not have at-grade crossings, you would need to upgrade to get rid of these. However, the yamanote did at one time have a few grade crossings.

loyatemu

the problem with double-decker trains is you can only have the doors right at the end, so they're slow to load and unload - not suited for Metro type services (which is essentially what the Dart is), they're more useful for long-distance commuter trains such as the RER.

(though given the ludicrously long dwell-times on the existing Dart, maybe it wouldn't be such a problem).

dowlingm

the silver one is New Jersey Transit (the filename of the image gave it away )


GO Transit MotivePower MP40 leading with an EMD F59PH behind (probably because the MP40 is still new ex-delivery) and standard Bombardier bilevels trailing. With an MP40 alone a 12 car set can be used (1800 seats in the set plus standing room), only 10 with the older 3000hp F59s. In Vancouver they have a coffee bar on their bilevel sets.

PS - note the doors are not at the ends, this is because the freight dominance of railroads in North America means most platforms are low level - the Multilevels for Montreal have high floor doors at the ends for Gare Centrale and low floor in the middle for the rural stations.

Roryhy

Thats some good detective work dowlingm!;)

FlameoftheWest

Son of Stupido wrote: »

It was mentioned a while ago that once the interconnector was built, the Dart trains would be double decker (like in many other european cities).

Anyone heard any news on this?

Double Decker trains are not really suited to a system like the DART. They take too long to unload. They are more suited to long distant, low frequency commuters. I honestly can't see them being used on the DART.

FlameoftheWest

Roryhy wrote: »

I heard about double decker trains years ago but its a long term plan, all upgrades made will cater for them but theres no need for them with current demand. I think 8 carriages is the longest any underground system makes the trains, making platforms longer involves huge costs. Double decker trains utilise the space between the wheels(i.e. just inches from the tracks) to lower the ground floor so the level of the upper floor isnt as high as it would otherwise be. The tunnels wouldnt need to be a whole lot bigger.

Both of these are regional commuter trains and not mass transit. Different kettle of fish than the DART underground which will fuction more like a metro.

FlameoftheWest

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Doesn't New York have 10 carriage trains?

The second pic is Dutch but where's the first?

NYC subway carraiges are really short.

The first pic looks like Chicago. THis would not be mass transit. Would be a slow train form the other suburbs and would lay idle in the station most of the day.

Cool Mo D

Well in Paris, they're starting to use these double deckers on the RER A - which is rapid transit, and runs every 90 seconds at peak time.

Cookie_Monster

Cool Mo D wrote: »

Well in Paris, they're starting to use these double deckers on the RER A - which is rapid transit, and runs every 90 seconds at peak time.

doesn't look much higher than a DART. I've noticed that the DART (floor level) does look quite high off the gound, giving some scope to have much, much lower trains

Slice

Having experienced the growing pains of London's transport network I think it would make sense to future proof the Dart Underground so it can handle double decker trains.

dowlingm

Irish platforms are 915mm above the rail.

EU systems are 550mm or 760mm (see Commission Decision 2002/735/EC - PDF)

This would likely mean bilevels would need to exit at mezzanine doors at the car ends, with the lower deck floor lower than bogie height.

See also the Wikipedia article - Railway platform height.