Reilly just announced DART coming right up to Balbriggan

quad_red

Great news!

Dr James Reilly TD ‏@DrJamesReilly 5m5 minutes ago

Great news for commuters in Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush, Lusk and Donabate with the announcement of plans for Dart services to Balbriggan.
2:27 PM - 22 Sep 2015 · Details


https://twitter.com/DrJamesReilly

Fingleberries

quad_red wrote: »

Great news!

Dr James Reilly TD ‏@DrJamesReilly 5m5 minutes ago

Great news for commuters in Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush, Lusk and Donabate with the announcement of plans for Dart services to Balbriggan.
2:27 PM - 22 Sep 2015 · Details


https://twitter.com/DrJamesReilly

News story also on RTE about the "plans to extend the DART to Balbriggan" to be included in the forthcoming Capital "Plan".

Remind me, When's that General Election again?

readyletsgo

In 2059 I'm sure.

KOR101

Does this mean they are planning 4 tracks? Hard to see how anyone really benefits much from more trains on the two existing tracks. The real problem is how long a 20 mile journey from Balbriggan takes.

neris

does that mean they,ll be putting on more darts to cover the time gaps then will be created by the distances between malahide and balbriggan. a 15 minute wait is a joke for a train as it stands. Surely aswell more trains will mean more delays if there,ll then be 3-4 different services using the existing lines

McAlban

Yes, their buddy Minister Donohue has cancelled Dart Underground. and to soften the blow promised the Dart link to Balbriggan first mooted in 1975!!

Nothing but slicing up the funding to help get O'Reilly, Farrell and Ryan re-elected. Without Dart Underground the congestion between Balbriggan and Connolly will worsen, doesn't matter how often the trains are. It will take them longer to get into town than they do now.

Meesared

I'm confused, strangely he doesn't mention Swords/the Airport, does that mean neither of those are included in this expansion?

McAlban

I assume the so called "Airport" Luas will be announced next week in the Capital Investment announcement. Although it may be dressed up as "Metro" North.

Stheno

It's not planned until 2022

Dravokivich

Meesared wrote: »

I'm confused, strangely he doesn't mention Swords/the Airport, does that mean neither of those are included in this expansion?

Its basically just a change in purpose to current infrastructure and services. I'd expect it to have the same frequency as the commuter rail services that come down from north county Dublin. There really is nothing in addition with this proposal.

Carawaystick

If it's a dart and stops in kilbarack and harmonstown etc it will take longer, have no toilet or luggage rack or table
have even less seats

I'd definitely say it'll cost more than the train now? But the train will cost much more in 2022 also... It's a joke

Rashers72

I think this is a complete waste of taxpayers money. From seeing the impact of the DART on Malahide I foresee the following:
> Longer journeys times then today. Example: Today Donabate to Connolly has maybe 3 stops en-route (some are faster). With DART every journey will be 8 stops minimum (assuming same as Greystones, no non stop DARTS)
> Assume an 8 carriage DART has a lot less seats then an 8 carriage commuter train
> No toilet facilities on DARTs despite the much longer journey times
> No overhead storage on DARTs, again despite the longer journeys. Look at any train on Northern suburban line today. They are used constantly.
> Air Con and heating on DARTs is very poor compared to the class 22000 trains
> Without a proper passing loop at Balbriggan, there are bound to be the same delays as occur every day at Malahide
> Again without proper passing loops from Connolly to Balbriggan both northbound and southbound, the daily delays on the DARTS will now impact Enterprise and Northern suburban line for a lot longer.

I really wish I could be a lot more positive, so if anyone can tell be of any benefits please do. It took years of campaigning to persuade Irish Rail to provide a Sunday service, and improve the frequency (at least to peak services). I really fear this is a bad day for transport in Fingal. There has been a universal negative reaction to this announcement. They should have spent the money on something else, like running earlier trains in the week, or later trains Wed - Sat. Dept of Transport should have asked the customers what they wanted.

jwwb

2022 is two elections away. I'm probably just getting cynical in my old age

McAlban

It's 20km Approx from the current terminus in Malahide to Balbriggan. It is very time consuming and expensive to upgrade this track for electrification.

DART trains should have quicker journey times as they can accelerate faster than DMU's used for commuter service, however the double track congestion on this line and lack of Dart Underground means it will be the same speed if not slower than the current commuter service.

neris

McAlban wrote: »

It's 20km Approx from the current terminus in Malahide to Balbriggan. It is very time consuming and expensive to upgrade this track for electrification.

DART trains should have quicker journey times as they can accelerate faster than DMU's used for commuter service, however the double track congestion on this line and lack of Dart Underground means it will be the same speed if not slower than the current commuter service.

the journey times and wait times for darts are too long especially in what is meant to be a modern city where they are trying to push public transport.

McAlban

neris wrote: »

the journey times and wait times for darts are too long especially in what is meant to be a modern city where they are trying to push public transport.

Reason being everything is being routed into the Connolly bottleneck down a double track line struggling with capacity instead of into Dart Underground. Which would bypass Connolly southbound to Spencer Dock.

petronius

Extending the DART to Balbriggan should be a no-brainer it should not have that much issues with planning. Why did they stop at Malahide in electrification, and not continue to Balbriggan+. It would serve towns like Donabate/Portrane, Skerries, Rush/Lusk and BB.
If the Metro to the Airport/Swords was to terminate in Donabate you could have traffic integrated and people on the northern line accessing the airport that way

McAlban

petronius wrote: »

Extending the DART to Balbriggan should be a no-brainer it should not have that much issues with planning. Why did they stop at Malahide in electrification, and not continue to Balbriggan+.

Simple Answer. No Capex Budget. They literally couldn't afford to do it all in one go. (As is the Case now).

petronius wrote: »

If the Metro to the Airport/Swords was to terminate in Donabate you could have traffic integrated and people on the northern line accessing the airport that way

Secondly Donabate is the Wrong Choice, Rush & Lusk would be better due to it being surrounded by Agricultural land and not apartments/private homes like Donabate.

LeinsterDub

Don't hold your breath. Dart underground was planned for 15 years and is now cancelled

Carawaystick

petronius wrote: »

Extending the DART to Balbriggan should be a no-brainer it should not have that much issues with planning. Why did they stop at Malahide in electrification, and not continue to Balbriggan+. It would serve towns like Donabate/Portrane, Skerries, Rush/Lusk and BB.
If the Metro to the Airport/Swords was to terminate in Donabate you could have traffic integrated and people on the northern line accessing the airport that way

What do you think DART would do, that more diesel trains couldn't do?

Do you think Journey times would be shorter or longer with every train from Skerries stopping in Kilbarrack, Harmonstown, Raheney, Killester, Clontarf road, and if you are really unlucky 50 yards past Clontarf road again because the driver couldn't change in the station?

Do you think it would be better to have less seats per train than now?
Do you think it would be better to have no overhead luggage racks?
Do you think it would be better to have no tables?

Decuc500

As someone who lives in Raheny and knows how packed the Dart can get in rush hour, I can't actually imagine being able to board a Dart from Balbriggan with the number of people that would be on it.

It might as well be a diesel train passing through Raheny and not stopping for all the good it will do for current Dart passengers. The Dart expansion just means even more congestion.

billyhead

This is more pre-election spin from this government. It will be shelved after they get back in although if on the off chance they do extend the line it will increase the price of property of houses in Rush/Lusk, Skerries and Balbriggan

ThunbergsAreGo

Rashers72 wrote: »

I think this is a complete waste of taxpayers money. From seeing the impact of the DART on Malahide I foresee the following:
> Longer journeys times then today. Example: Today Donabate to Connolly has maybe 3 stops en-route (some are faster). With DART every journey will be 8 stops minimum (assuming same as Greystones, no non stop DARTS)

This si the main problem for me, I can get into Connolly in less than 20 mins from Donabate at the moment, if I get the right train.

That becomes 35 minutes on a Dart that stops everywhere

slinky2000

THis would also possibly slow down the enterprise services to/from Belfast. I can't see that being a good thing at all.

readyletsgo

Got the train this morning at 9.05 in Rush & Lusk this morning. Absolutely Indian train packed! kids back/starting college today? Usually get a seat on that one.

But if the Dart is brought out to balbriggan in the next 6 or 7 years, it will slow everything down in the mornings. Takes about 30 to 40mins to get from Rush to Connolly station on a good morning, that's if there is no dart slow or stopped in front of the diesel train.

Can you imagine if there were 2 or 3 darts in front of a diesel train every morning? would take MUCH longer to get in each morning and would defeat the porpous of the diesel train altogether, especially with students back this time of year.

Might get a seat in the mornings but would take forever to get into work!

I'm a definite NO to the Dart being brought out any further than Malahide. It will be a nightmare in the mornings and evenings, more so than now.

ParkRunner

I don't think the Balbriggan train changing to a Dart would add too much delay to the diesel train as it already usually slows down at Malahide, Howth Junction, Clontarf and crawls into Connolly at peak times

The 08:37 diesel leaves Malahide and gets into Connolly at 08:58 (21 mins). The Dart leaves Malahide at 09:00 and gets into Connolly at 09:25 (25 mins). That's 6 extra stops adding only 4 minutes onto journey time!

Out of boredom I checked just how fast the diesel train that leaves Donabate at 08:14 straight to Connolly was going this morning and the app said it was an average of 51kmph, top speed 101kmph. Not a great average for no stops

Rashers72

EF wrote: »

The 08:37 diesel leaves Malahide and gets into Connolly at 08:58 (21 mins). The Dart leaves Malahide at 09:00 and gets into Connolly at 09:25 (25 mins). That's 6 extra stops adding only 4 minutes onto journey time!

Have to disagree with you there. At the moment, the fastest diesel from Malahide to Connolly does the journey in 15 mins, whereas the DART journey minimum is 25 mins. So 6 extra stops add 66% to the fastest journey time. I would imagine very few diesel trains will stop at Malahide once the DART is ran to Balbriggan.
I have still to find someone with a single fact as to why they think DART to Balbriggan is good thing. Look at the front page headline in the Northcounty Leader this week. 'Uncertainty Over Benefit of DART Extension'. And in the same article the only commitment Barry Kenny can give is there will be extra capacity (i.e. more standing room), and that Irish Rail will definitely be building 'additional sidings' at Balbriggan. That is about the most positive thing I have heard so far. I would love to see the business case for what this project is going to deliver.
Finally I hate those Japanese DARTs with a passion. The seating was very poorly designed, very uncomfortable. I hope they are fixed by the time the line is extended.

GoodBridge

What about running a couple of later trains so that the people who live beyond Malahide can see what it's like to be in town after 11:30?

The Muppet

Journey times into the city center is not the only consideration. Ehat about the benefits to people wishing to get from balbriggan rush lusk and donabate to locations currently served by dart and vica versa?

I think it's a great idea to extend the dart and give an improved public transport service to those lucky enough to live in those areas.

jwwb

It's going to be like driving a Ferrari through the city centre. You still get stuck in the traffic jam and get to travel at the same speed as the Micra

quad_red

8:00am Skerries commuter got into Pearse at almost 8:50am this morning.

Some mumbling on twitter about a signal fault. Seems to be allot more delays this week.