Airport DART Link The Council’s View Sean McGrath Senior Executive Engineer Fingal County Council
Introduction What is the Airport DART Link? 7km link from Clongriffin to Airport Trains to City Centre and Bray/Greystones Cost €300M or €200M or €150M Generate 9 MPPA in 2030
Indicative Route
History Dublin Transportation Initiative Not included – open for future evaluation A Platform for Change Not included - low passenger numbers 2011 – 2030 Vision Not included – rejected at initial stage
Reasons for Rejection Very low flows No development potential (green belt,airport) No additional capacity in city centre –Displaces Howth / Malahide or Maynooth services Does not serve Swords, MetroPark, Ballymun, Drumcondra, Parnell Square, O’Connell Street, St Stephen’s Green
Metro North Integrated with land use planning (joined up thinking) 27,000 jobs or 16,000 jobs and 11,000 residential units Already approved Serves: Airport, Swords, MetroPark, Ballymun, DCU, Drumcondra, Mater Hospital, Parnell Square, O’Connell Street, Trinity College, St Stephen’s Green (14 stops) Serves airport employee catchment Straight from city centre Critically - new capacity in city centre
NTA Passenger Numbers NTA model peak hour two-way flows: DART: 1,400 without Metro North 500 with Metro North Metro North: 22,000 Metro North needs to be built anyway, so DART is needless and wasteful duplication.
Questions How are IE’s flows so much higher than NTA’s? There are currently 31 DART stations. How does adding one more station lead to a “50% increase in passenger numbers”? Are there any other suburban rail lines without any stations for a length of 7Km? Are there any airports within 10Km of their city centre?
Conclusions Not integrated with land use Serves only one new station Does not serve current employment catchment NTA flow forecast are extremely low