DART+ (DART Expansion)

From reading the planning permission from dart+ west the planned frequencies in the peak hour would be:

- 3 trains per hour to/from Grand Canal Dock

- 4 trains per hour to/from Spencer Dock via Drumcondra

- 4 trains per hour to/from Heuston

If these frequencies are facilitated and we have the rolling stock (which we will, loads on order), why would the frequencies not be delivered?

it does but on the frequencies on the planning report it only says 11, so unless its including a Longford commuter im not sure whats going on.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119965457/#Comment_119965457

If you look at current service levels into Connolly etc, the levels mentioned are as it is now for the most part

For the Northern line it looks like:

3 Northern commuter , 3 Malahide DART, 3 Howth DART

That will look to be replaced with

5 Northern line DART, 2 Clongriffin DART, 2 Malahide DART

For Maynooth the maximum Connolly Commuter trains that run from there are 3 (not including Longford commuter)

These plans are saying the max number will be 3 so there will be no different.

The biggest change would be if they can cut down the gaps in the evening peak that are there to let the Sligo and Longford express through

The planned increases for this line would be the 3 Maynooths (potential) to Spencer Dock and the 2 extra m3 parkway to Spencer Dock

For Southwest, the maximum you would see leave GCD for Hazelhatch is 3 an hour, the plans are saying 3 so that wont change, maybe a rebalancing

The biggest extra services will be the extra services from Heuston, and the planned 4 services from Spencer Dock via Drumcondra.

The biggest caveat to DART+ West and DART+ South West would be Metro and Glasnevin , If thats delayed , i cant see there being much potential for the spencer docks in the short-term and tbh they should be having both Maynooth and Hazelhatch Spencer Dock services, stopping in Drumcondra to enable both sets of passengers to make connections for Connolly. leave m3 parkway on the midland line, they can connect with Drumcondra at Broombridge

Is this an official proposal for the northern line?

Only four Darts that are not coming from Drogheda? So if I'm getting a rush hour Dart from Raheny I can get one of these four trains or else get on a northern line dart (that I assume will be packed)?

And how does the Howth shuttle work? Hundreds of Howth passengers changing at Howth Junction and getting on these northern line darts?

I honestly can't see this resulting in more comfortable rush hour journeys for those from Howth Junction onwards.

Sorry I missed this!

You would be able to get any of those DARTs including the Drogheda and Laytown ones

Yep the plan is for the Howths to terminate in howth junction and people will hop on to a Drogheda/Laytown/malahide/clongriffin train

Yes, I know that I will be able to get any of the Drogheda Darts but lets face it, these aren't short hop Darts as we know them. They are trains coming from the country and I can't help but think they will be packed by the time they get to existing Dart stations in rush hour.

So if I want to avoid the long haul trains this means there are less short hop Darts than before. 6 down to 4.

I remain skeptical that this new setup will alleviate rush hour crushes. The new trains need to be long but knowing IR they will find a way to halve them to save money like the mess we have with the Dart fleet at the moment.

They could have even considered shutting Connolly Station for through-services and building an interchange station at East Wall where the two lines connect, because let's face, anyone destined for city centre is better served by Tara than Connolly and anyone destined for Docklands is better served by the new Spencer Dock station than Connolly. Having an interchange where the lines dissect would serve that purpose perfectly. The only people in need of Connolly are those terminating trains that won't make it as far as Tara, and they can still stop at an interchange station in East Wall for all other needs.

Quad Tracking the Northern line would be "difficult", a lot of it is in a cutting or has buildings close to it.

I have said before, build Metro North to DART guage, and quad track it from the city to Rush via swords, and problem solved.

Will Dart Coastal include any passing loop on the northern, or southern, city sections?

Blowing a fortune to put lipstick on a pig.

I disagree,

If this was gone, capacity on the Northernline is increased, since no need to share track with Enterprise/Dundalk/Drogheda trains, which will have dedicated tracks along side Metro north.

This is from the DART+ Coastal North webpage;

If all 24 paths from Drogheda were used, it would only leave 6 paths for DARTs south from Malahide, so 2 per hour. Then another 2 per hour starting from Clongriffin. I think this is just indicating paths rather then stating service pattern. There wouldn't be demand for 8 trains per hour southbound from Drogheda, particularly if the train stopped at every bloody station between there and Connolly. If you had 5 per hour departing from Drogheda, there could be another 5 per hour departing from Malahide, plus another 2 per hour departing from Clongriffin. It might make more sense to have more departing from Clongriffin rather than Malahide if a commuter train can overtake there.

The acceleration/deceleration of the new BEMU/EMUs is greater then the existing 29000s meaning that a BEMU/EMU on all stations stopper between Connolly & Drogheda is a few minutes faster then the existing limited stops 29000s stopping pattern.

Given that that poster has previously indicated an involvement in the project, I think we can take it that they are correct.