Last nights Dublin 15 transport meeting

[ThomasJ]

A fairly packed crowd turned up at the Paddocks in Littlepace last night for a transport meeting organised by Joan Burton.

Speaking at the meeting were:
RPA: Tom O'Reilly and another RPA manager (apologies forgot name)
Dublin Bus: Gareth Quinn
Iarnrod Eireann: Myles McHugh

So what came out of the meeting:

Iarnrod Eireann

Absolutely nothing new! He highlighted the improvements made by Iarnrod Eireann up to date!

A powerpoint planned failed and they only got as far as the first slide- a picture of a new Intercity railcar. A question about the 22k benefits for maynooth line passengers his response was that the 22ks are in operation all ready and some services stop at Maynooth and Clonsilla [oops slip of the tongue! got a few looks!]

In reference to the chaos suffered by Maynooth/Dublin 15 passengers last week, he did say there was a meeting the next day by all staff involved to look back at the communication problems etc. the day before to ensure that it doesn't repeat itself.

He said timings in the City Centre are being looked at ATM to see if they can get some greater flexability, improvements etc. Electrification would be the lifetime of T21 but he wouldn't give a definite date.

WRT to level crossings and traffic problems as a result he said while there are some benefits. Automatic level crossings aren't always an advantage over manual level crossings although he did say he would look at them.

Questions were asked about whether Hansfield could be opened ahead of the rest of the Dunboyne line considering the trek people have to take and car parking problems at clonsilla. He said no, they would be the same timeline for openings of the stations.

The number of short trains was also an issue and raised by alot of people (with a mention of the 4:30 Pearse maynooth- from gorey which people said was hell. He did say he would investigate that) He couldn't guarantee all trains would be 8-coach and nearly went as far as saying it would be impossible to have all 8-coach trains.

There was also a number of questions about the driver issues but he declined to comment too much saying there is possitive vibes.

Bus

Linking with rail there was alot of questions about Rail feeder buses but that was being ruled out as a waste of money. Despite that - the 270 bus going from dunboyne and littlepace will serve clonsilla station in the future.

Of the major Bus plans for the Dublin 15 area- a major overhaul being planned:

Route 37: Terminus will extend to the Blanchardstown centre shortly and frequency will be improved.

Route 38: More or less the same

Route 39: 4 routes coming-
39- the same snail route
39A- The current route (via N3) being extended to all day operation. Bus will run via Clonsilla station and Blanchardstown centre (after 9)
39B- Will run as 39A except from terminus will run through the new dublin 15 areas not Clonsilla station and down new ongar road. All day operation.
139- Direct route, Ongar to City centre via N3, Blanch road south, and new ongar road.

Route 70: 2 routes alternating between each
70- Dunboyne to city. Will no longer serve the Blanchardstown area but the Navan Road N3 straight to town.
270- Dunboyne to Blanchardstown centre serving littlepace, clonsilla station, Blanch loop to Blanchardstown centre.

Might be a few extra routes. Hope to have changes in place by summer.

Also mentioned was that it was likely that in the next 18 months-2 years the D15 buses will be kicked out of Hawkins street and need to find a new home.

RPA- Metrowest

According to the RPA Spokesman the EIS Scope has been completed and they are going through public consultation ahead of the detailed design.

A couple of the issues cropping up as clear in the meeting is the preferred location. Question was raised as to why the East of Blanchardstown was chosen over the West where a larger residential and computer factories with large workforce areas would be. Question was also raised about what impact this would have if they were to build the line through the Blanchardstown Millenium Park. RPA did say they were still taking extensive feedback from the public, submissions can be made.

They did say they will be working with Iarnrod Eireann to design and build the interchange at Porterstown but they did say given there is no station there yet it would be difficult.

There other points were-
* Large chunk of metrowest would be privately funded
* Would be completed as one rather than in chunks
* No tunneling, few overbridges
* Liffey valley and Castleknock golf course are issues
* Stops etc to be decided
* Trains will be every 4 minutes
* Blanchardstown to Stephens Green -40 minutes
* Greade seperation- Track will be designed so if needed LUAS can be used on the line

That is the bones of what was said about Metrowest.

Luas- Line D/BX

There was a brief mention of the Luas to Broombridge. What was said was it was hoped to have the bulk build (maybe a liffey bridge etc) during the building of the metro although no real timeline was given.

The RPA did say that the real gem in all this is Broadstone which the new campus will serve as a new home to over 50,000 students. They did say Brombridge (and Finglas eventually) via o'connell street etc.

Most of this youve heard all before. Still interesting to hear though!!! Good meeting last night!