DART train

Development, and Redevelopment, of the DART

The original DART service, provided from 1984 onwards, ran from Howth, a fishing village to the north of Dublin city centre, through the city centre stations of Connolly, Tara Street, and Pearse, to the port suburb of Dún Laoghaire and terminated at Bray. This was the route for some 15 years, when the electrification was extended south one stop to Greystones, and North from Howth Junction two stops along the Belfast main line to Malahide. The current route is schematically shown in the map below.

In the early 1980s, in preparation for electrification, two new stations were provided which at the time were not in use by the existing diesel-electric service. Sandymount station at Sandymount Avenue was opened where a station had previously stood, and Salthill was built at the original terminus of the railway, between Seapoint and Dún Laoghaire to the north of the West Pier. At the time of the electrification work in 1981-82, the former branch to Dun Laoghaire pier used by ferry passengers was disconnected as the main track had to be lowered in order to fit the overhead power cables under road bridges in Dun Laoghaire; some ten years later a brand-new passenger ferry terminal was built immediately adjacent to the main Dun Laoghaire station.

Under the Transport 21 plan the DART is going to be extended with a new tunnel under the city from Heuston Station to Spencer Dock. This tunnel know as the Interconnector will allow DART services to run from Hazlehatch to Heuston Station to St. Stephen's Green to Spencer Dock and on to Balbriggan. The existing DART line will be modified to run from Bray to Maynooth. These two lines will have an interterchange at Pearse Station.

Operational Details

The service is provided by a mixed fleet of electric multiple unit trains. 38 two-car sets by LHB of Germany built in 1983, five two-car sets by Alstom of Barcelona, Spain built in 1999 and most recently 17 four-car Japanese-built sets by Tokyu Car of Yokohama between 2000 and 2004. They normally run coupled as eight- or six-car trains in the peak periods, typically 07:00-09:30 and 17:00-18:30, and four-car trains at other times. Japanese sets typically operate with an Alstom unit to make a six-car train. Work is currently ongoing to allow the original LHB sets to work in tandem with the newer sets. 40 two-car trainsets were purchased initially – two were subsequently lost in a fire in 2001. DART now carries in excess of 80,000 passengers daily. During 2003-5, development works were undertaken to lengthen platforms and improve disabled access at suburban stations and also to upgrade the power grid. This enabled the lengthening of most peak time trains from 6 to 8 cars to reduce overcrowding.

Each train is driven by a single person from the cab in the leading carriage. All trains have automatic doors under the control of the driver. All trains in the Dublin suburban area including DART are monitored and regulated by a Central Traffic Control (CTC) facility based in Connolly Station known as Suburban CTC. Passenger information in the form of electronic information displays on each platform is updated in real time based on the progress of trains. Automatic public address announcements are made in the event of delays - these announcements are tailored to each station. Thanks to extensive computer automation the main control room is staffed by only 4 people: two signallers, one with responsibility for level crossings, an electrical control officer (ECO), who supervises the electrical power supply equipment and an overall supervisor. Only the main CTC control room is normally staffed, but backup local control rooms are provided, allowing services to continue in the event of serious technical problems.

Journeys require a ticket to be purchased before starting. A typical one-way ticket would cost about €1.60-2.00, about the price of a daily paper. To gain access to the platform passengers must pass through a turnstile which requires a valid ticket — the underside of the ticket is automatically printed with the date, time and a 3-digit code representing the station in which the ticket was validated. Ticket checks on the trains themselves are relatively rare and mainly occur off-peak. Generally tickets are checked by a member of staff on arrival at your destination. Exit validation equipment where a valid ticket is required by the exit turnstile is currently being installed with Grand Canal Dock the first station to be fitted. The main form of fraud prevention remains the initial validation.

DART services begin at about 06:30 on weekday mornings, and finish before midnight. No DART services are run on Christmas Day or on the following day, known in Ireland as St. Stephen's Day, a national holiday.

DART's Competitors

Iarnród Éireann currently operates a monopoly on Irish rail passenger transport. The only other company to operate on lines in the Republic of Ireland is Northern Ireland Railways, which operates a joint railway service in the Republic, Enterprise.

A number of other transport modes are available in Dublin. Apart from the two most popular modes of transport, walking and private vehicle, the CIÉ-owned Dublin Bus is virtually ubiquitous, running all over the city. As such, it has many routes that run somewhat parallel to DART for stretches. However, it does not have any scheduled routes that traverse the entire length of the DART line. By and large, integration of bus services as feeder services to railway stations is minimal throughout Ireland, as well as in Dublin. However, there are some specific destinations (e.g. Dublin Airport, which has no direct rail service) that have buses providing feeder services to a DART station. Due to a lack of integrated ticketing, amongst other problems, these services are not widely used.

The Luas (pronounced LOO-USS) light rail system, which partially integrates with the DART at Connolly Station, is not seen as a competitor, as neither of its routes run along similar routes to DART.

Criticism of DART

Some aspects of the DART system may constitute fundamental structural shortcomings. Paramount amongst these is the non-exclusive nature of the railway route used. Apart from the short distance between Howth Junction and Howth, DART shares its tracks with mainline services to Belfast in Northern Ireland and Rosslare in the south-east, as well as non-DART commuter DMUs known as "Commuter" services. Connolly Station is also shared with services to and from Sligo and Commuter services to the northwest of the city. Iarnród Éireann hopes to separate the north-western non-DART services from Connolly, running them below the northern line to a planned new station at Spencer Dock, east of Connolly.

The current shared-line system means that an increase in frequency for the DART is almost impossible, thus although they are advertised as being every 10 minutes average times are 15-25 minutes. Although frequency on the DART is capped by accommodating other services, often DART services have priority, causing delays for the higher-speed DMUs and locomotive-hauled trains. There are plans to quadruple-track the route for some distance north of Connolly, to alleviate rail congestion at peak times.

Some critics focus on the lack of capacity on the system at peak times, and also the skeletal patronage of some services outside peak times. However, this is an unavoidable problem that the national road network also suffers from.

During the redevelopment works in 2003-5, major sections were closed at weekends, attracting considerable criticism from would-be passengers and business interests.

Integration with road traffic

A further pressing problem for the DART, and for some road traffic in Dublin, is the existence of level crossings along some of its length. Since the DART mostly runs at ground level, there are a number of places where the DART both meets and has to cross roads. The mechanism in place for this involves automatic full barriers to stop the flow of traffic along the road. This can cause localised traffic jams. This is widely seen as a design flaw that could have been avoided at the time of electrification.

Criticism of the DART concept

Some Irish commentators have been strongly critical of the willingness of successive Irish governments to invest in fixed-route transport, such as the DART and LUAS. While some argue that the mass transport needs of the people of Dublin could be met both more cheaply and more quickly by investment in buses and bus lanes, others do not necessarily agree. It has been argued that bus lanes have higher maintanance costs than rail if carrying the same volume of traffic.

DART stations

One of the best-known stations is at Lansdowne Road, the home of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) and the venue for Irish rugby and soccer international matches. Further south, the train stops at Sydney Parade, a street of some Georgian and many Edwardian and Victorian red-brick houses in the Dublin embassy belt.

It is believed that the former station at Merrion Gates - between Sydney Parade and Booterstown - will be redeveloped in the near future, though this awaits confirmation.

List of DART stations

North of Howth Junction

Northeast of Howth Junction

South of Howth Junction

South of the River Liffey

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "DART train".