Infrastructure that never happened

Interlining is very common on rail/train/tram networks, allows a much more flexibile network.

They could have designed the network to allow a Sandyford to Hueston/Connolly service if they wanted.

The origional plan for the Citywest extension had a junction design to allow a Citywest to Tallaght service, but that got dropped.

Putting the Luas underground would have got us a German style Stadtbahn system (see Dusseldorf in particular for a city where this is really well done).

Being able to whip along at 70kph underground with no junctions or pedestrians to dodge it would have cut a huge chunk of time off journeys and massively improved reliability

Think what it could have done for tourism 😉

Can I mention Luas line E?
I can’t find a detailed PDF of the route even though someone linked to the old RPA website and there is a link to a detailed PDF map but the link doesn’t go anywhere.
I think the route was via Rathfarnham terenure Harold’s x.

I’d love to see a detailed map if anyone has a link.

Excellent thanks for that.

I imagine that would be an extremely slow route when eventually built following decades of nimby objections 🤦‍♂️🤣

Cork also escaped some pretty horrendous road designs proposed in the 1970s. There likely wasn't a budget for them in Ireland at the time, but when you look at some of those eras of urban design and road engineering, you'd wonder:

https://www.echolive.ie/nostalgia/arid-41367985.html

Some smaller infrastructure, on a national scale - but not small in terms of its potential impact to where it was planned for; had it gone ahead:

There's twice been plans to turn Rutland Island - a small-ish island in Burtonport harbour - in to something else.

First off, there were plans for a medium sized town, to service herring fisheries and processing plants - this started construction in the 1780s. One street got built, along with some of the processing facilities; but the herring shoals moved away so the local economy collapsed.

I have seen a street plan for it, in a book, with the author having found that in archives. Cannot find it online. Apparently much of the street layout was done, but got covered by sand dunes with no maintenance. You can still see the street and the ruined factories on aerial photography - most of the houses on the street are now holiday homes. There was a national school, a post office, a pub and a coastguard station here but all have long since closed.

Then, in the 70s, someone wanted to turn the entire island in to an 18 hole golf course. You can see the remaining street of houses on the map. I don't think they ever had land owners consent to go ahead with this.

Speaking of spanning the Liffey, in the 1977 there was a proposal by CIE to build a massive Centeral Bus Station in Temple Bar and Ormond Quay - the two sides being linked by a tunnel under the Liffey. CIE had been buying up a lot of the property in the area with an eye for future development.

https://comeheretome.com/2013/10/24/the-failed-central-bus-station-temple-bar/

An interesting one I heard about when visiting the area was the railway extension, with rather elaborate railway station (shown below) and trans atlantic port at Blacksod in County Mayo in the early 1900's. Apparently, the idea came from a plan hatched by the British government of the time to reduce the travel time from London to the furthest points of the empire, which involved taking the train to Holyhead, a short trip across the Irish Sea to Dublin, then train to Blacksod and onwards by sea to North America. This route would have kocked at least a day off the travel time using the previous route which was going by ship from Liverpool.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksod_Bay_Railway_Terminus

Already mentioned, but its such a good bit of Never Happened its always worth mentioning again

Actually built out that way was the Arranmore Whaling Company whaling station. But why was it called the Arranmore Whaling Company when it was in Mayo?

They had planned to build the whaling station on Arranmore in Donegal; but were refused the 1900s equivalent of planning permission after they'd already done some works - blasting probably - at Pollawaddy on Arranmore.

Streetview didn't bother going past a badly painted stop line on the road down to it, probably thinking it was a private road but there is a small harbour there now.

This is part of the work by the 1837 Railway Commissioners, whose railway maps are the granddaddy of infrastructure that never happened.

This is an extract of one thing that did not happen, perhaps it is now time for it, the Navan-Armagh railway line. This proposal was to be the Dublin-Belfast line and reflected the limitations of mid 19th century locomotives and their ability to climb between Newry and Dundalk. The sketch line runs a bit East of the later Kingscourt line, fairly close to the N2 between Carrickmacross and Castleblayney which is not far from the later GNR approach to Castleblayney, and then a line to Armagh somewhat to the West of the subsequent GNR line.

@DublinCC

Here is a slightly better/different map of the 70's plan, interestingly they did not involve the Harcourt Street line, it was to be a guided bus way…

It’s interesting to compare what we have today (or soon) with that plan. A lot of those corridors got reused and repurposed over the years, and today, the only missing link is the project to connect Heuston with the coastal line (that role was to be filled by DART Underground):

But fields where the next wave of housing was going to be built. They weren't all going to drive in along Dundrum Road!

However, by and large they kept the alignment, so they were able to change their mind.