Transportation in Dublin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dublin's public transportation system consists of a number of public transport operators, both public and private. It has undergone expansion in recent years, and the Irish Government plans to invest heavily[1] in the system under the Transport 21 plan.
Due to the rapid economic expansion of the city, the transportation system struggles to cope with demand and does not compare favorably with transit systems in other large European cities.
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[edit] Public Transport in Dublin
Dublin's transit system utilises electrified suburban trains (the DART system), diesel commuter rail, trams and an extensive bus network to provide service to the 1.6 million citizens of the Greater Dublin Area.
As the public transport system is run by disjoint companies, connections are difficult to make within the transport system. As a result, suburb to suburb journeys are difficult to undertake in the city.
One of the planned Metro lines for Dublin will provide an orbital route[2] to parallel Dublin's M50 motorway and make suburb to suburb journeys much easier.
The Railway Procurement Agency[3] are responsible for establishing an integrated ticketing system for use throughout Dublin City, but progress has been slow on the project. A Dublin Transportation Authority will soon be created[4] to make public transportation in Dublin more cohesive and better integrated.
[edit] Rail in Dublin
All heavy rail in Dublin is operated by the state organisation Irish Rail[5] which operates a relatively large network of diesel commuter rail and an electric suburban service known as the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit)
[edit] Commuter Rail
Commuter rail in Dublin operates on 4 lines. All commuter rail is operated by Irish Rail Diesel Multiple Units
Northern commuter service extends from Dublin City Centre to Drogehda, Kildare commuter service extends west from Heuston Station to stations as far as Portlaoise, Maynooth commuter service extends from Dublin City as far as Longford and the Southern commuter service runs from Gorey to Dublin city. [6] All commuter rail service runs via Dublin City Centre, and there is no orbital service of any kind.
The Maynooth commuter service is the most recent to have benefited from significant improvement with the March 2007 opening of the new Docklands railway station in Dublin City Centre[7], which has allowed for more capacity on the route, not previously possible due to overcrowding at Connolly Station.
Significant improvements on the Kildare line are also planned [8] which involve doubling trackage on the line (to 4 track) to allow local traffic to move independently of higher speed intercity trains.
[edit] DART Rail
The DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) is an electified transit line serving the Eastern suburbs of Dublin City. The DART is considered Ireland's greatest public transport success story [9], however the rapid success and expansion of the LUAS tram network may put prove this wrong in the future.
The DART system was opened in 1984 and has since proved tremendously successful. Like all other rail service in Dublin it suffers from extreme overcrowding[10] at rush hours, but current expansion plans will increase its capacity by 40% to 22,800 passengers by 2009.[11].
[edit] Rail Expansion
The Irish Government has ambition plans under Transport 21[12] to provide a far superior transport system for Dublin. A crucial part of this plan is the Interconnector rail tunnel under Dublin City, which will provide for the electrification of the remainder of the commuter rail network.
Under the plan, a tunnel would be contructed linking the northern portion of the DART line (North of Connolly Station) to the Kildare line via the Docklands station at Spencer Dock and Heuston Station. This strategic tunnel would link the DART directly with existing LUAS light rail lines, hundreds of bus routes, planned Metro lines and extend the high frequency DART service to the Kildare commuter line.
Simultaneously, the Southern Portion of the existing DART line would branch west after Connolly Station to continue service on the electrified Maynooth commuter line. The Interconnector rail project, by tunnelling through the heart of Dublin City will allow for much more effective integration with other elements of Dublin's transport system once complete.
