Dart coming to Maynooth. Costs Vs Benefits

Lastblackdog

According to this new report Maynooth is to be served by the DART.

https://www.kildarenow.com/news/north-kildare-get-dart-says-national-transport-authority/258281

Why would adding electricity to a service make it better.

I am at a loss as to what benefit this will give over just painting a few regular train carriages green.

If it is about capacity or frequency then this just needs more trains.

ghostdancer

from my very limited understanding, more cost effective, basically. easier to maintain, less repairs/moving parts, much lower fuel costs.
theoretically faster too.
I would assume future rail technologies (like driver-less trains) are more likely to be electric trains rather than diesel-based (also no need for fuelling personnel/fuel depot stations).

LXFlyer

More rapid acceleration, better performance and less emissions.

JupiterKid

For all ths reasons stated above, electrification is the way to go.

This should have been done 20 years ago, but better late than never. Now let's just get on with it!

L1011

Its not a new report, its not even news. Frank has run out of other stuff to claim credit for so he's just regurgitating bits of the Capital Plan from 6 months ago!

L1011

As goes the benefits - as mentioned, faster acceleration, regenerative braking, no diesel particulates. Cheaper, longer lasting trains - the 8100 series DARTs are 34 years in service now with one heavy overhaul and most people would still prefer them to our vastly newer 29000 series trains.

The Maynooth line is particularly twisty which adds huge amounts to journey time; has some closely spaced stations and will get two or more additional - Pelletstown and Cross Guns - and can have significant stop/start movements close to the city due to the junctions and congestion. Electric trains will be much faster than diesel here.

Thomyokk

Won't we be burning more coal to power the dart .

L1011

Thomyokk wrote: »

Won't we be burning more coal to power the dart .

We burn very very little coal for electricity. 0% of the fuel mix today, <4% for the whole year.

Gas is our main non-renewable source and primary source on calm days; better to be burning gas in an extremely high efficiency combined-cycle plant than diesel locally on hundreds of trains (which have to haul that fuel around also, reducing efficiency)

This isn't even the same argument as for electric cars - electric trains aren't hauling huge heavy batteries made from rare elements around so are significantly more efficient.

n97 mini

It will be worthwhile, but I wouldn't hold my breath. It's been on the agenda for decades but has always been put on the back burner. West Dublin and North Kildare people don't complain enough... evidenced by the loss of several weekday and all weekend through services to Tara and Pearse, which Irish Rail now say is a permanent "improvement". And lack of swimming pool, cinema, recycling centre and so on.

The biggest benefit to electric is acceleration. With so many stations so close together the current diesel trains pick up very little speed before they have to slow down again.

n97 mini

L1011 wrote: »

This isn't even the same argument as for electric cars - electric trains aren't hauling huge heavy batteries made from rare elements around so are significantly more efficient.

Not that true, but unrelated. With a huge heavy battery an electric car still costs a fraction of what a diesel car costs to run. But yes, if power comes from overhead wires it'll be cheaper again.

The Mulk

From the article posted is mentions Dart to Celbridge in the same time frame- 2022.

Does anyone know will this be full electric from Connolly via the PPT, or just from Heuston to Hazelhatch?

L1011

Heuston to Hazelhatch, the PPT is probably not electrifiable due to height clearance issues - DART is exclusively overhead electric so comparison to underground train tunnel sizes can't be made. However, Irish Rail have lied about the tunnels capabilities before!

The Mulk

L1011 wrote: »

Heuston to Hazelhatch, the PPT is probably not electrifiable due to height clearance issues - DART is exclusively overhead electric so comparison to underground train tunnel sizes can't be made. However, Irish Rail have lied about the tunnels capabilities before!

Thanks, was wondering about this. I noticed a FG Senator also claiming credit on twitter.

loyatemu

n97 mini wrote: »

The biggest benefit to electric is acceleration. With so many stations so close together the current diesel trains pick up very little speed before they have to slow down again.

the way Irish Rail keep padding the timetable on the existing Dart that benefit is debatable. It's practically at walking pace in the City Centre now.

Seve OB

I grew up with the dart in my back garden, I even remember them building it.
it was great way back in the 90's when I used it a lot, fairly frequent even at odd hours of the days and weekends.... I think it is even better now, much more frequent, bigger trains, but I don't live along it anymore so don't use it as often

now I live near coolmine station.
what a joke of a train service
so much so, I generally don't bother with it
put a dart in with trains every 10 minutes, i'll use it all the time

The Cool

I'd imagine this would go through all stations? We've moved over to Leixlip and the frequency of trains is ridiculous, especially during the day and weekends when there's basically one train per hour. Maynooth is obviously a little better because of the intercity services. Considering there's something like 25 estates in the town, if they gave us better services they'd obviously get used.

LXFlyer

The Cool wrote: »

I'd imagine this would go through all stations? We've moved over to Leixlip and the frequency of trains is ridiculous, especially during the day and weekends when there's basically one train per hour. Maynooth is obviously a little better because of the intercity services. Considering there's something like 25 estates in the town, if they gave us better services they'd obviously get used.

A new timetable starts on December 9th with additional off-peak services during the week and at weekends, with later trains on Sundays.