12. Public Transport (Bus, Light & Heavy Rail)
Dublin Airport
Dublin Airport is expected to grow its passenger numbers significantly over the next 20 years. At present it is served by a mixture of Dublin City buses, long distance coach services and private cars and taxis. The National Transportation Authority (NTA) Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy document has recently recommended that a standard gauge Metro service serving Swords should also stop at the airport. In the same report the NTA explicitly ruled out any heavy rail service to serve the airport, citing that the proposed Metro North service would meet the airport’s total needs in the next 20 years. This was despite a strong submission from Iarnród Éireann to the previous consulation proposing an extension to the DART system from Clongriffin station to the Airport, in order to connect Dublin Airport to the national rail network. In addition, while not in the body of the main report itself, the NTA stated that Iarnród Éireann’s proposed alignment would not be preserved against future development, effectively ruling out forever any heavy rail connection to Dublin Airport.
There are significant flaws with the NTA’s analysis and conclusions regarding these proposals. The scope of the NTA Greater Dublin Area (GDA) transport strategy is purely to review and make recommendations for commuter services coming into Dublin. If Dublin City Centre was the final destination for most of its Airport passengers then perhaps the proposal to only serve Dublin Airport with Metro North might make sense. However, as Ireland’s busiest airport, Dublin Airport serves a far wider hinterland than just Swords and the GDA. This is borne out by the significant numbers of long distance bus services that directly serve Dublin Airport. The NTA’s previoudecision not to preserve IÉ’s proposed heavy rail alignment does not make any sense in this context.
To compare and contrast, Manchester Airport is of a similar size to Dublin Airport and serves a similarly sized city. In addition Manchester Airport is one of Britain’s major airports and is a significant long haul entry point to the UK. Manchester Airport is not only served by the Manchester Metrolink trams, it is also served by a very busy heavy rail service. There is no reason why Dublin Airport should not be the starting point for InterCity rail services across Ireland. The sheer volume of traffic from passengers arriving at Dublin Airport should be justification enough to build a heavy rail connection to the Airport. Allowing all Dublin-bound InterCity trains to terminate at Dublin Airport would revolutionise InterCity rail travel in Ireland and give it a new lease of life.
Enterprise services from Belfast are severely constrained due to a lack of capacity on the existing railway line between Malahide and Connolly station. Additional tracking will be needed to allow Enterprise trains and rail freight from Tara Mines to Dublin Port to make a direct journey to Dublin City Centre. Consideration should be given, in the context of the TEN-T Core network between Belfast and Cork, to link Dublin Airport from the Belfast line direct to Central Dublin and Heuston Station as part of the proposed Dart+ Tunnel scheme.
DART Underground and Dublin Airport Heavy Rail link must be built
The most pressing future rail development in the State is the DART Underground project, now rebranded as Dart+ Tunnel. Without a doubt if this project remains constantly in the review – postpone – review cycle, it will never be built. As mentioned previously, Dublin Airport must have a heavy rail connection to integrate the Airport with the whole national heavy rail network. Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport show that connecting Dublin Airport to the heavy rail network is entirely justified and would, according to Iarnród Éireann, would transform the income stream of the railway.
Build Phase 2 of the Navan line
To wait until 2042 to build the M3 Parkway-Navan line is not acceptable and will only continue to make road congestion on the M3/N3 corridor even worse. The revised strategy must include an aggressive timeline to build the railway. In the interim, the existing freight line from Drogheda to Navan must be put into passenger service. Even now, with the restricted train paths to Dublin, a basic commuter service could be provided by Iarnród Éireann.