The DART and the Phoenix Park Tunnel

An underground DART (“the Dart interconnector”) line linking Heuston Station to the Docklands billion is now on hold with funding suspended. It is now doubtful that the interconnector will proceed as planned.
The interconnector line is a small part of the overall Transport 21 proposals which consist of a number of major rail projects, for Dublin city and the outside commuter belt. In combination, these measures would enable an additional 75 million rail passengers per annum in the greater Dublin region, roughly three times the current usage levels.

There is to be a major expansion of the DART network to reach Maynooth, Hazelhatch and Balbriggan. Following the opening of the Interconnector tunnel, all rail services will be restructured. There is to be a major expansion of the DART network to serve Maynooth, Hazelhatch and Balbriggan commuter stops. In effect, three new Dart lines will be created;

- Maynooth/Dunboyne/Navan to Bray/Greystones calling at all stations via Connolly, Tara Street and Pearse
- Hazelhatch to Balbriggan via Dublin City Centre, calling at all stations to Heuston then High Street, Stephen’s Green, Pearse, Spencer Dock, Howth Junction and all stations to Balbriggan
- Howth calling at all stations to Spencer Dock then Pearse, St Stephen’s Green, High Street and Heuston

This work will take place while the interconnector tunnel is being built. Total costs including rolling stock will amount to approximately €850 million.
The interconnector tunnel would link Heuston to East Wall Rd, with stations at Heuston, High Street, St Stephen’s Green, Pearse and Spencer Dock stations. The tunnel will allow trains to run directly from Hazelhatch to Balbriggan thus providing a second rail line through the city centre. The cost is approximately €1.3 billion. The timeline for completion is 2015.

However, an existing railway line already connects both Heuston and Connolly Railway stations which is fully functional but is lying idle. The Phoenix Park tunnel has been portrayed as an unsuitable, crumbling and leaky relic of Victorian engineering. However, the reality is that the tunnel was engineered to the highest standards and is of impressive size. The tunnel is approximately 757 yards in length, it was originally built to accommodate two wide gauge 9 foot 10 inch trains travelling in either direction.
The existing railway line travels from Heuston Station through the Phoenix Park tunnel before surfacing again through Cabra, Phibsboro, Drumcondra, onto Connolly Station and then on to the Docklands The neglected rail link is fully functioning, occasionally used for freight and to shunt locomotives between Dublin’s two main railway stations.

Rail Users Ireland have questioned the vast amount of money which has been earmarked for a new tunnel under the city when the old Victorian railway line could be used to service some of the city’s most densely populated areas.
“They are wasting an incredible asset and instead ploughing vast sums of money into a new inter-connector tunnel,” said Derek Wheeler of the rail advocacy group. “The rail lines have been there for over one hundred years and have carried passenger trains in the past and are begging to be used again. It is a rapid rail service that can be up and running within a year. The whole system is just about ready to go.”
Wheeler states that a typical rail journey time to Connolly or the North Wall from Heuston would be about 10 to 12 minutes. In addition, the Phoenix Park tunnel route would have the benefit of providing rail services to many densely populated areas currently lacking a rail service.

“Currently, the lines through the Phoenix Park are fully signalled to passenger standards, with signal spacing adequate to support trains at approximately five minute intervals in both directions.” However, Irish Rail continues to insist that the Phoenix Park route is a non starter and would only add to the congestion at Connolly Station.
Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny has stated that the Phoenix Park tunnel is currently used only for freight services and special train services, particularly during the GAA season. He went on to assert that full-time use of the park tunnel would result in cancellations of other services; “Connolly station is at full capacity at peak times, and using the park tunnel in this way would not generate any additional commuter capacity in the greater Dublin area. Kildare services could not serve Heuston without an additional platform and track work being provided there, and could not serve docklands without track modifications at a multi-million euro cost.”

However, in 2004, Iarnrod Eireann expressed an entirely different view. On February 25 2004, Joe Maher, the then chief executive of the company told the Dail Transport Committee: “We certainly intend to use the park tunnel in the short-term to bring trains from the Kildare/Newbridge area into Spencer Dock because there is demand for that.”
Furthermore, Seamus Brennan, Minister for Transport also stated in the same year:“ I understand that the rail connection between Heuston and Connolly Stations is over 7kms in length, part of which is in tunnel under the Phoenix Park.

Irish Rail is looking at the potential for making greater use of the Phoenix Park Tunnel when the second phase of the DART upgrade programme is completed in 2007 and extra rail paths into Connolly Station become available.”

This would tend to support the thesis that the Phoenix Park Tunnel with a direct connection to Connolly station was being actively considered in 2004 as part of the proposed expansion to the DART network.
In a further twist, CIE has now proposed building a €100m office block development at Tara Street Station in Dublin, which will be taller than Liberty Hall. On August 4th 2009, An Bord Pleanála opened a public hearing into plans by CIE which plans to redevelop one of the country’s busiest transport centres, a 14-storey office block built above the tracks at the 0.3 acre Tara Street site. CIE states that it is “confident” the development will proceed, despite the acute economic downturn.
Some ten million passengers go through Tara St. station every year. The 12-metre tall concourse area is intended to cater for up to 14,500 passengers per hour at peak commuter times.
Another aspect of the interconnector plan is that it has served to obscure the relevant part of Irish Rail’s proposals, the expansion of the DART network to the main Dublin commuter lines.

The DART interconnector proposal fails to solve the problem of a city with a series of disconnected and differentiated rail and bus services. An obvious solution to this problem would be to extend the DART by electrifying the existing Dublin commuter lines, reopening the Phoenix Park tunnel to provide a direct connection between Connolly and Heuston, and building a new Central Bus and Rail station in Dublin, either at Broadstone, which is a 30-acre site now lying idle, or at a suitable site in the Docklands, where bus and rail services could be centralized.

In both cases, the land is owned by the state, Bus Eireann in the case of the former, and the Dublin Docklands Development Authority the latter. The Loopline bridge could be removed and rerouted underground with a direct link to the new Central Station, either from Tara St. Station or from Pearse St. rail station, with Tara Street station becoming a hub for the latter.
The failure to use the pre-existing Phoenix Park rail tunnel casts serious doubt upon the collective commitment on the part of Irish Rail management and the Department of Transport to develop the DART network as part of a solution to Dublin City’s transport problems. Are their statements and commitments merely rhetorical? Irish Rail holds much valuable city centre lands. It has to be asked whether these are to be used for more wasteful property development or to provide the transport infrastructure that Dublin City desperately needs.

The ill-conceived DART interconnector proposal should be dropped, the expansion of the DART system to all Dublin commuter areas should proceed at once, along with the immediate opening of the Phoenix Park tunnel for DART use, as originally planned in 2004.
The passenger numbers passing through Tara Street station are an indication of public support and desire for public transport, and of the future potential for an enhanced public transport system in Ireland.

Sources:
http://www.transport21.ie/Projects/Heavy_Rail/Electrification_of_and_Provision_of_Rolling_Stock_on_the_Dublin_Suburban_Network.html
http://www.railusers.ie/transport21/extendthedart/
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/83642bn-rail-link-to-go-ahead-despite-working-ghost-line-existing-1230026.html
http://www.independent.ie/business/commercial-property/cie-aims-high-with-8364100m-station-plan-1843620.html
http://busrage.com/2008/10/14/transport-spending-cuts-announced-in-budget-2009/
http://www.irishelection.com/2009/07/an-bord-snip-transport/
http://www.transport.ie/viewitem.asp?id=5732&lang=ENG&loc=1712
http://www.transport.ie/viewitem.asp?id=2726&lang=ENG&loc=1085