Pronunciations aside, this is a clear and concise explanation of the plans for public transport in Dublin. Much easier to understand than most of the official stuff over here. Thank you and well done.
@@YatakaJust to explain, lots of place names in Ireland are in the Irish language, rather then English. So an Irish person won’t say them in the same way as you would in English. The letters have different sounds in the Irish language. It can be strange listening to non Irish people trying to pronounce them. But it is really no big deal, no one here expects non Irish people to pronounce them correctly. Great and informative video.
While I agree that it's a very informative video which I really appreciate, it isn't that difficult to look up these pronunciations. Most pronunciations of Irish place-names are actually very easy to pronounce for English-speakers such as Portlaoise which is phonetically made up of two English homonyms (port and leash).
Got to say, as an Irish person, its nice to see the term "Most ambitious" in relation to something from Ireland, whe it isn't followed by "financial conspiricy" or "tax laundering". Also, the Proposed DART+ West line will go through my town, I am positively giddy that we might get a good train service!
The issue I see is the lack of transport connections currently and proposed to the stations. I live in Clondalkin but the closet bus to get to Fonthill Station is a 15 min walk and it would take me 25 mins to walk to the station...
@@SnakePlissken25 honestly? No. These sorts of massive public works projects are always over budget and behind schedule. Did you knownthengrand canal was way over budget and that there was graft, corruption, bribery and shenanigans at every stage? But it happened 100+ years ago so no one cares. This really is just par for the course when you build such things.. I remember when they built the port tunnel, there were similar complaints, and they also complained that it wasn't high enough f9r thebtallest trucks, butnwhat I only recently learned isnthat no tunnel in Europe is any taller, and that the port tunnell is used as a case study in GOOD project management, because it 9npy went 6 mo the behind schedule.
Agreed, all these plans sounds good, but having our government do anything with it, it's like trying to drain an already emptied water barrel, I wish they focus on the rail network more then turning an old railway line into another boring and unappealing greenway (greenway are good on paper, but not as good or the same as it was a railway line), a greenway could work if they they are their own thing and not built over an old railway line, so there's that, also I've heard there were plans to turn the Clongriffin station into a junction station or that was a rumour, also wouldn't mind a monorail service too that goes from the Airport and into town and something similar on the southside and west side tbh, also more tram lines too and maybe revive the old Howth tram line as well, so there's that too, so yeah
I kept putting off this video because I thought it would be some clickbait TTS video, but this is by far the best representation of Dublin's rail transit plans that I've ever seen. Thank you so much
As often is the case with Ireland, there's great plans but no urgency and chances are this will be further delayed (the Metro was supposed to be *finished* in the early 2010s)
I don't know about that. Once the Luas got going it has zoomed along. All these infrastructure changes in a city are fraught with delays. It is the same everywhere. Manchester have been trying to implement a light rail system for years and it is still in the planning. Why pick on Ireland, every country in the world has the same problem. Most of the problems with housing, health etc. are felt by everywhere. Why do we always think we are the worst!!!
@@jgcondron I mean, there were proposals in the height of the celtic tiger to have a floating cablecar running from connoly to heuston stations across the entire skyline, while the metro had been stuck since 95 in pre-planning stages.
Who was it who recently jacked in the job (directorship) due to the "Dead Hand of the Civil Service"? Yep, that's what he said - the "Dead Hand of the Civil Service" is what stopped him getting anything (worthwhile) done. Personally I'd have gone with the "non-existent brain, along with promotion-obsessed, non-creative, unimaginative, old-fashioned incompetence. With some (ok, a FEW - a very few) exceptions.....".
@@daveroche6522 The Kafkaesque inefficiency and unimaginative money drain of the civil service, more like. Bureaucracy, overregulation, the inability to fire vastly overpaid settled bureaucrats that have zero incentive to be efficient in their work, nepotism, protectionism, and the planning authorities bowing down to NIMBY arseholes are the bane of any public project here. Yes, the civil service is to blame for a lot of it, being a rotting carcass of socialistic hubris. A Leviathan existing solely for the purpose of feeding itself at the expense of the working taxspayer.
Great video, thanks for taking an interest in our slowly recovering rail network. Our public transport has definitely improved in recent years but we have a long way to go, it's nice to hear our plans being described as ambitious from an outside perspective!
I really enjoyed this video! About the pronunciations, I understand some places can be quite difficult and please dont take offense but here is how some of the places are pronounced: Howth - Hoe - th Drogheda - Draw - Head - Ah Dundalk - Done Dawk Swords - Just like the ⚔️ Portlaoise - Port Leesh Bridge's Glen - Its actually Bride's Glen Again, this video is spectacular and its great to see some recognition from abroad! Even I learnt from this.
Sorry, but when you get so many things wrong, it just makes me think there's no real knowledge of the subject. We can all read out of a book about somewhere we've never been?
@@jimtuite3451 He basically only got place named wrong. Think about it this way, If an Irish person made this video about Poland, we're obviously going to make mistakes. It's not that big of a deal considering we knew where he meant.
@IESpotter scroll down the comments. Factual errors as well as the mispronounciations. It's nice that you're so forgiving but personally, I feel it's a poorly researched video that the creator has no 'hands on' knowledge of. Personally, I wouldn't make a public video on a subject I only have a scant knowledge of as it only makes you a target for ridicule (plus, how can you get 'Sligo' wrong lol)
visited Dublin for the first time last year -- amazing city. The DART was an excellent service. Looking forward to another visit one day. Cheers from Toronto, Canada
Point of clarification - the railways were not nationalised in 1925. GSR was a public company quoted on the stock market. CIE was formed in 1945 by merging GSR and the DUTC (Dublin's tramway company) in a weird hybrid whereby the company was still stock market listed but with a Government appointed Chairman. This company was nationalised in1950.
Good Video! The rail station situation at airports on the island of Ireland needs sorting urgently. Both Dublin and Belfast international need rail stations.
Belfast is building the largest transport hub on the Island with plans to link up to the international airport which is great news as I Dubliner I looks like the metro is to be cancelled again as the government says it's due to inflating
As a Dubliner myself, I would much rather they do the Dart underground linking Connolly station to Heuston station along with going underground at Donabate to serve Sword, Dublin airport & linking up at Harmonstown to head into Connolly. This can then serve people coming from Belfast as well as Wexford to get to Dublin Airport. Some could argue this can be done before the metro is even started as there is already a underground station built under Terminal 2. There was plans for the Luas to branch off at the Redlines Black horse stop to head to Clondalkin & Lucan, as well as Greenline Broombridge to link up Blanchardstown and a Luas to the Airport linking up North Dublin’s suburbs Drumcondra, Santry, Ballymun & DCU.
Great video, nobody here in Dublin seems to care about the future shape of our transport infrastructure, I do, but given that I am 71 and the inertia with regard to infrastructure development, other than roads, I despair of travelling on any of it, except perhaps the battery/pantograph darts. Keep up the good work.
Most people would LOVE for this to become reality, the lack of interest is mostly down to disillusionment. I moved to Dublin in 2007 and there were already talks of metro then. It's now 2023 and still not one shovel has broken ground despite hundreds of millions spent on planning, design, consultations, legal issues etc... basically it's hard to believe it's ever going to be built so Dubliners aren't holding their breath for this - or other - infrastructure projects.
@seanolaocha940It's not a binary choice between investing in road or rail. Both are needed. Metrolink and the Dart expansion are vital for Dublin and the GDA. The M20 is vital for the West finishing the link between Cork, Limerick and Galway.
I grew up in Dublin but haven't lived there for 20 years now. All I can say is thank God I lived within walking distance of the Dart growing up. Compared to any other Euro capital I've been too, Dublin's public transport was appalling and is still sub standard but good to see plans are afoot. Thanks for the synopsis. Incidentally, I was once told there was an opportunity back in the day, 60s or 70s, to electrify every rail line in Ireland. The government wasn't interested though as oil was so cheap, it wasn't considered cost effective. No idea how accurate that is but has a ring of plausibility to it.
As part of the Irish diaspora of the 1950s, I enjoy seeing that Dublin is progressing with their rail system. Not as fast as my new homeland (Vancouver, BC), but still very impressive. Fingers crossed that it all comes to completion!
Great video. And don’t worry, Irish places are hard to pronounce. The construction will hopefully start soon because it has passed planning. The history was a very useful addition. I’ve made a railway history video for Dublin if anyone wants to see it in more detail.
Irish place names are not any harder to pronounce than lots of other place names. Bordeaux has an X in it. There are some real odd ones in the UK. England has many that would stump even English speakers. Wales has some beauties.
@@noelpucarua2843 Just as we can pronounce Bordeaux because we have heard of it, I can also pronounce Skeaghvasteen because I have heard of it, just as I didn't know how to pronounce Goucester before I heard it said properly. A lot of countries have hard to pronounce place names, but that doesn't make them any easier. While I say Irish place names are hard, that doesn't mean English or French ones aren't. Also, I might point out that most Irish place names are in English, they just follow the Irish pronunciation, that's all. If you knew Irish, the English names wouldn't become easier only the Irish would.
I’m from Lucan myself and I can’t exaggerate just how much our transport has improved recently. We are still almost entirely limited to buses (which terminate at Adamstown station), but we now have easy access to all neighbouring towns/suburbs as well as the city centre. I don’t see us ever getting our old trams back or any trains, but if the buses connect to all of that, I’d say we’re pretty well set for the future. Unfortunately virtually nobody here actually knows about DART+ or Metrolink and all I know about it comes directly from Iarnród Éireann sources. Hopefully that’ll change soon.
Lucan here too, the bus service is very good I agree but I mostly just cycle to the city center as it's just 20 minutes away down the canal. Looking forward to the trains though!
That summaries the Irish situation quite well. We have recommendations to increase our max speed lines from 160kph to 200kph also for intercity services. It's just a matter if government delivers this time. We had great plans over the years that previous governments promised but never delivered. It's truly criminal the lack of investment that we had over the years. Many would argue there have been backward steps rather than forward. If only we had put even a fraction of the money we invested in motorways into our railways over the past 20 years. We would surely have a world class network by now. Thanks again for the great work on the video. If you need a hand with with Irish town names pronunciation for the next video I'm sure you can ask for some help. For example DroGheda has a silent G.
Fair dues to you. You presented a well-researched document, I had no difficulties with your Irish pronunciations - it was your English pronunciations that I had difficulties with!
If I could like this vid twice I would - you did a fantastic job of clearing up years of governmental gobbledygook! The historical aspect was just (chef's kiss) 👍
Great video, well researched and delivered. Vastly superior to anything I've seen from the official channels. However, this is Ireland and I doubt it will actually come to fruition but live in hope.
I question the Metrolink route. There seems a better alternative to link the southwest and west lines via Blanchardstown Centre - National Sports Centre + TUD - Finglas - Ballymun - Airport - Swords - Northern Line. This future proofing seems to be ignored by the planners in favour of a direct line from the City Centre to the Airport, servicing NO area of future city growth.
Thank you for this very good video. I totally understand the difficulty with pronunciation of names like Drogheda, Portlaoise, etc, I lived in Ireland for a couple of years before I got my head around pronunciation of Irish names and place names. Im just glad we didn’t get to Dun Laoghaire or Dunshaughlin.
Dublin's 'integrated transport network' is legendary. There is no rail, tram or metro link to the airport or to the port either. The two tramlines (Red and Green lines) were built and went into service in 2004... with no link between the two (or to the North side of the city) until thirteen years later (the red line ran from Tallaght in the west to Connolly station, while the Green line ran from Stephens green to Sandyford in the south of the city) when the Red line was extended Eastwards to Citywest & Saggart, as well as eastwards to the old docklands area, while the Green line was extended northwards to Broombridge (cutting through the city centre - and causing all manner of chaos thirteen years after they did it running the red line through.) and southwards to Brides glen. There was talk prior to the 2008 financial crisis of a separate LUAS line shadowing the M50 orbital road and connecting the Red and Green lines at The Red cow interchange (where the Redline get's the 'red' in name from - the Green line get's 'green' from St. Stephens Green) and Sandyford and connecting the airport. I'd also heard muttering of a 'black line' running from the city centre along blackhorse avenue (to the north of Phoenix park) to the Blanchardstown area & connecting to the orbital line there. Although the creation of the Broombridge extension seems to have nipped that in the bud. The Metro has been a drama that's been running longer than the mousetrap. I've lived in Dublin for 23 years and it's been touted every couple of years. One issue has been liability, since the creation of the 'Port tunnel' in 2006, there were several instances of householders living above the route of the tunnel complaining of subsidence and vibration damage to properties from works below. There has been an expansion of the existing ARROW/commuter service to the west with a couple of new stations being built to serve new suburbs such as Kishogue, Adamstown and the re-use of the previously abandoned line from Clonsilla to the M3 parkway.
Nice synopsis. You ought to consider doing a Wikipedia article on the subject (seriously - it's the nature of the comment section, that it is easy to read in sarcasm when in fact none exists, and to miss sarcasm where it is definitely intended!) "...a drama that's been running longer than The Mousetrap" 😁 Very apt! Its crazy to think that Glasgow, a city that's comparable to Dublin in many ways, (according to some metrics it is actually a little _smaller_ than Dublin, population - wise, something which rather surprised me - although ensuring that you are comparing 'like - with - like' regarding such matters is notoriously difficult.) - crazy to consider they've had a Subway - their own term - for over a century. At, I think, 15 stations along 1 line, it may not be the most impressive in the World, but on a par with Dublin's proposed Metro North. Glasgow's system, even as it stands, though, easily beats out the Dublin line in one crucial respect - it exists, unequivocally! Also, Glasgow and its hinterland is more comprehensively served by overground rail. In fact, while I'm well aware of the argument that the rail network the British handed down to us was built to get soldiers _in,_ and agricultural produce _out!_ Agricultural produce, much of which would be earmarked to feed their Navy and their forces posted further afield in their huge Empire! As such, any benefits it (the railways, which of course were built and run privately) brought to the Native Irish population would have been only co~incidental. Nevertheless, one is very much reminded of the "What did the Romans ever do for _Us?!_ " routine in Monty Python's 'Life of Brian' when one concedes that we inherited a fine railway infrastructure from the British, even if _We_ had to take on the responsibility for decimating it! It still amazes me, for instance, that there was a time when my hometown, Cork, a city of comparable size to Newport or Reading or, perhaps, Dundee, had (iirc) no less than _six_ railway termini! (Or maybe it was 'only' 5, if 'Glanmire' _now_ Kent (the Patriot/Martyr, not the County) Station had at this stage moved the couple of blocks from Summer Hill to its current Lower Glanmire Road location, with through trains to 'Queenstown' _now_ (of course), Cóbh... Needless to say, the British made a great job of dismantling her _own_ railways, dwarfing anything the Luftwaffe might have _dreamed_ of doing! Of course, it has to be said, the British may have left us with a great rail infrastructure, in contrast to the deplorable roads they left us with, but it was very much with our own native labour with which they were built. Indeed, it is probably the case that the majority of the labour employed in the building of the railways on the island of Great Britain itself was Irish, as it had been on the canals, a few decades before! My point though, convoluted as it is, is that while Britain herself may have made recompense for the damage to the system wrought in the '60's - with projects like HS1, The Elizabeth (standard gauge Underground) Line, the Channel Tunnel (jointly with the French), et cetera, et cetera - but what have _we_ done in the meantime? The electrification of the DART, sure, a couple of decent tram lines (I refuse to call it 'the LUAS' - 'The _FAST'_ or the 'SPEED' or whatever it is? Nah, can't do it!') and some tinkering around the edges of the suburban rail line out through the Northwest of the city - but actual _track laid?_ What, a ½ mile from the back of Connolly ('Amiens St.' for the Old~Timers in the house!) down to the 'Docklands'? I don't know that part of town too well, but it's probably, in large part, just duplicating what had once been there anyway. Regarding that, I'm only guessing, but it seems reasonable, given that as it said in the video, railway lines had been run down to the port generations ago. At least Dublin still has actual, working, port facilities within (more - or - less) walking distance of the City Centre, unlike Cork, where it has all moved downstream. (When one compares Cork's ( *>`Bleeurgh!!!‘
@@richiehoyt8487 Yes, I actually agree with you - furthermore, while I touched on Dublin port, it's fate is somewhat 'up in the air'. The current terminus of the LUAS Red line in the east, 'The Point', would have been the sea front at the turn of the century.... unfortunately at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries and not the 20th to 21st. However in the intervening century and a quarter, land reclamation has pushed the ferry terminus over 3 Km eastwards. And for passengers arriving by ferry, there is a somewhat ad-hoc bus arrangement, or a walk through a dockland landscape with all the charm of a soviet era gulag (I used to work in the area and frequently found myself walking . However, there are plans to re-develop the area to make a 'Irish Manhattan' (the developers hyperbole, not mine.) and move the port further North to the Balbriggan area. The irony is, if this gentrification goes ahead, a LUAS line extension is guaranteed. I'd completely forgotten about the 'docklands' station when mentioning the M3 Parkway - however, as far as I can remember, unlike the M3 Parkway, the line was extant as a siding all that was added was a station building. As for other parts of the country, the north east coast (Donegal) has no rail at all. You either get a train to Derry or Sligo and get a bus from there to your destination or fly into Donegal airport and rent a car or hike for an hour to Annagry to use McGinleys bus service. . Thanks for the heads up on 'Ceant' station in Cork city! ;)
@@richiehoyt8487 The railway system wasn't "handed down to us" by the British. While part of the United Kingdom, the policy on building railways here was the same as it was across the pond - railways were a private enterprise. Most of Irish railway companies were in fact IRISH railway companies, with most of the shareholders being based on the island. It is true that there was some funding by the British government allocated for light railways in the late 19th century (which were still private enterprises and of notoriously bad quality) and some private capital from Britain for other mainline railway projects (because there was little money in country in the mid 1860s for even essential infrastructure). It is also true that because all privately funded infrastructure projects in the United Kingdom needed parliamentary approval, they were made to meet some parliamentary demands in order to pass through. Like building a station in Newbridge for the troops to use. But if all those railway companies been British owned upon independence (neither the Irish or British government had officially nationalised their system at the time), it would have been a lot more difficult to form a merger. Glasgow's railway network much like ours was all built a long time ago. It has a large number of railway lines and a subway because during those times there was a lot more wealth and had a bigger population than Dublin had. But their subway hasn't expanded since since 1896. Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham are all larger cities than Dublin and do not have metro systems. Leeds doesn't even have trams or frequent commuter rail so I disagree with the idea that Dublin would easily have one. In Britain and elsewhere on the continent, it tends to be local or regional authorities who are responsible for developing urban transport, so it really depends. I also don't agree that Britain had recompensated for the Beeching Axe at all. Those are all London centered developments EDIT: I've just omitted some things from my original posting because I didn't realise you had actually addressed them already.
Many thanks for a very informative and well researched video. Incidentally, the building in which the Metrolink Luas is to be located ius nearing completion, though it will be some years before it ever gets used.
Great video, although I take issue with the plans being ambitious in any significant way. As someone who lived in Dublin for years, then the Netherlands and now Lisbon, I can safely say Dublin's public transport infrastructure even after this 30+ year timeframe plan, will be nowhere near any of the capital cities I've visited. I know rails were removed, etc, but we've had money and expertise to build one of the greates in the world, when we're going to settle for one single south/north metro line, a dart, whose special seems to be that it's electric in 2023, and two luas lines that only now kind of line up. I have yet to need to get a bus in Lisbon. It's something, but it's nowhere near sufficient.
I always wonder where exactly all the tax money goes.. because if truth be told, we have BILLIONS upon BILLIONS and could have build one of the best metro undergrounds on planet earth by now.
I dunno about 'Billions _AND_ Billions'... But we might do, if the state didn't run a mile when techno~giants like Apple come to them with sh1+ - tons of money saying "We made XYZ Billions of profit here last year, here's your cut!" I know, it sounds bonkers, but it's true! I don't know where things sit now, exactly, with this saga, but the thing has been going through the courts for years, with the EU trying to force the Irish government to take Apple's money!! With interest taken into consideration as well, the amount of money in question at this point is stupefying. I don't know the _actual_ figures... Just call it at least one underground line of decent length and a Cork/Limerick motorway connection with enough in the change to not only finish the new National Children's Hospital, but fit it out and staff it for a couple of years as well! Just as an aside, the government doesn't seem to have _any_ such reticence when it comes to taking the wages of PAYE ('Pay As You Earn') workers in tax...
Very interesting stuff. The DART+ plans look great, and the Metrolink looks very similar to the Copenhagen metro. I just hope the Irish government and the city of Dublin finds a better way of financing it than what we did in Copenhagen... (for context Copenhagen is billions in debt to the national government due to them only providing a loan to build the metro, off which 2/3rds are to be paid back in fare profits, and the final third is through profits from land sales along the corridors, which has been extremely problematic, as the land has never been sold for high enough value, causing the agencies to propose more metro lines to more development sites in the hopes that they'll cover the cost, and so the cycle continues. It has bcome a ponzi scheme by this point, its ridiculous ngl)
If the issues Copenhagen has actually leads to more new lines, that sounds like a good problem to have! Metrolink will be 75% paid for by the Irish government (national debt and direct taxes) and 25% Public Private Partnership.
Fun side note about the Metro... at least half of the tunnel line will be digging through granite. If the Metro ever extends further south in tandem or to replace the LUAS via underground, that's almost exclusively granite. Expensive and time consuming to bore through. One of the main reasons it's opposed is the initial cost and of course the construction disruption. The LUAS construction management was fairly well praised for almost minimal road disruption during construction. The William Dargan Bridge was assembled block by block on weekends, primarily on Saturdays and on Sundays even around church service/mass times. Taking advantage of low traffic times as much as possible. I used to get driven to school under it while it was still unfinished and being worked on.
Initial proposals were even more ambitious. Metrolink was called Metro North and would be one line in a much larger Dublin Metro that had west and south lines. Then there was DART Underground which would have joined up the northern and southern/western lines thanks to a tunnel under the city along with new stations, providing high-capacity, commuter services. It would have allowed Irish Rail to run services, potentially from Cork to Belfast. Irish Rail ultimately wanted to build a heavy rail spur from the northern line to Dublin Airport, allowing them to provide services for international travellers from across Ireland. The govt of course, in their infinite wisdom cancelled both projects during the recession, despite them being given planning permission and even EU grants to cover some of the costs. The decision to cancel these schemes has already been described as incredibly stupid and short-sighted.
Great video amd really informative. I remebe seeing plans to have the DART go out to Dublin airport back in the 80's. Really want to see better connectivity all round in Dublin amd hope all thisndpesnt fall by thebwayside like it has in the past
The most ambitious transit expansion in Europe is definitely the Grand Paris Express which is over 200 kilometers and doubles the size of the Paris metro network. In addition, there is the western extension of RER E and multiple tram and metro extensions.
I think when I wrote 'ambitious' in the title, I was thinking in terms of what the difference between the present day and the completed project is. I probably agree that in terms of scale, Paris has the most ambitious transit expansion plans in Europe, and its not particularly close. But Paris already has an excellent transit network, so I don't think of the before and after comparison being as huge of an upgrade as it might be in some cities. (maybe a video on all the non-Grand Paris Express stuff the city is doing is in order...)
Fantastic presentation. Very detailed and very informative. Reading about this stuff in the newspaper is not nearly as good as seeing it so well explained by commentary and superb graphics.
@@skywardlp4916how about Fermanagh Area Rapid Transit. As for Dublin the public transport network goes over 4 local authority areas. The Commuter 2900 stock are some of the worst the floor shakes all the time
This is a brilliant plan, but I do wish IÉ would also electrify most of the intercity routes and add an orbital service between Waterford and Sligo (perhaps split at Galway or Limerick). The tracks for it exist, and I feel its kinda ridiculous that going between the western cities (for example, Cork to Galway) requires that you go via Dublin. That is quite a major oversight for a national rail network, especially if they want to bring it up to a European standard.
There's no oversight. That's a separate programme. Dart + is about Dublin and surrounding areas. Cork is getting it's own rail commuter upgrades. Limerick will get new stations. Cork to Galway doesn't necessarily involve going through Dublin. There's plenty of services routed via Limerick. The proposal is to have true services in future. The All-Ireland Strategic Rail Review will likely be implemented at least in Ireland. It's an ambitious, but realistic plan.
@@jgcondron I sincerely hope the national rail network covers more parts of the country without being so Dublin-centric. I'm aware of that one service from Galway to Waterford???? I don't remember exactly. But my point is that Ireland needs more of those. services
@BenchFox_ You can go Galway to Waterford without going to Dublin but it would be quicker to go via Dublin. Cork to Galway has daily services via Limerick as well as via Dublin routing. The rail review proposed direct services from Galway to Cork. I'd say this will be implemented within 5 years once they make some changes to the track at Limerick Junction. The frequency of services will get improved as more drivers get passed through (union interference and the effects of Covid is responsible for the training backlog) and more railcars come into service. The rail timetable gets changed across Europe on the second Sunday in December. We'll know in November when the new timetable is announced. I don't expect to see massive changes this year - but up to 5 to 10 new services is probably a reasonable expectation. An increase of 5 to 10 extra services across the network per year for the foreseeable future is likely.
To clear up some confusion: There are plenty of services between Limerick and Galway. However these don't run directly to Waterford (for some unknown reason) and the only trains there are two-a-day Waterford to Limerick Junction trains (not even into Limerick). Currently Between Sligo and Galway, which would reasonably be quite busy, If you want to go by train you have to go to Dublin (and change using the Luas). It should be entirely possible to run direct Sligo-Galway trains. The All Island Rail Review was published recently which has lots and lots of recommendations for reopening lines.
At last,some of my ancestors are going to elevated into the 21st century! Having the Beeching anti-railway and transit fiasco,now like Los Angeles,Dublin is doing a revival of all that was good! Thank you from the US,its nice that the Green Machines are enlivening the city,and the countryside! Thank you 😇 😊!
@@anoniaino It wasn't Beeching,per se,its the mentality that destroys things,without thinking or considering the effects,or what future generations might need! There is too much of the attitude that everything must deliver an instant return on investment of a 1000% percent,all before breakfast! The bankers/ lawyers have run far too many companies into the ground,and that day comes,when they're needed,they aren't there!! Thank you 😇 😊!
Great summation man, and DW some Irish pronunciations can be a bit counter intuitive from the English side. To add a bit of context for the wider country: areas bordering northern ireland after partition became less and less served and invested as time went on, which shows the loss of all railways to Donegal as that used to be more connected through the rest of ulster. Similarly, while Dublin was expanding with the dart, Sligo station nearly came close to closing and still runs on single width tracks from Boyle as that used to be a connection point going west to Mayo. If you take a look at the new railway proposals for the 2040's, you can see a similar trend going backwards. Sligo doesn't connect to the rest of the country, Donegal will only be served via going through northern Ireland, as Letterkenny is still a commuter town to (the city with two names), this is after a multi decade grassroots campaign to reconnect rail lines along the west while the money was going into the luas and metro, and now many of those proposed links are walking greenways.
I suppose it's nice to hear an enthusiastic take on the 'plans' for Dublin's train expansions. Unfortunately, the attitude here isn't particularly great because of just how long so many projects have taken to even be considered, not to mention cancelled. Pretty sure if they'd followed through with the plans from a few decades ago, we'd have an actual underground network, greater access to trams & electrified rail. Not to mention the other cities might've received some more attention too.
This is an excellent overview and very thorough. It's great to have someone from outside the city/country take an interest. I've travelled on most of the existing lines over the years. Regarding pronunciations, it's not easy to find place name pronunciation guides, I usually try the Wikipedia page, if you can read the phonetic script, for example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drogheda Also very good is the fact that you have added corrected subtitles, so anyone can understand the voiceover. Yes, this overview is much better than the official media. Many thanks!
Thank you for the comment, and for the pronunciation advice! I'll be sure to use that more in the future. Also thank you for acknowledging the subtitles! It's something I will be sure to have in all future videos.
8:35 so that's what they're working on! I live in that building just west of where the Docklands station will be :) Good to see infrastructure improvements in Ireland! Love the Luas which takes me to the city center in just a few minutes!
Unfortunately, although close, it doesn't connect with the northern line near Swords. It would have provided easy access to Dublin Airport from the Belfast and Dart Extension to Drogheda, and would have made better use of the northern section of Metrolink.
Once Metrolink opens, I strongly suspect that they will quickly start on a plan to extend it to interchange with the Northern line. It will open up lots of badly needed housing development land North of Swords. Should be a cheap extension too, above ground running through fields.
As a foreigner living in Dublin for the past 11 years and, seeing all the failed promises from the government, I hardly believe this will happen anytime soon. Metrolink is being advertised for a long long time ago and they just keep finding excuses and delaying it. The DART+ is much more ambitious and I highly doubt this will ever happen. If it does, though, it will be 20 years from now (2023). Sorry for the pessimism but I wouldn't deposit my faith into Irish politicians and their empty promises.
Hi Michael. Good job . I’m a Dubliner and I have a plan to travel all Rail in the island of Ireland and N. I.Railway s I’m not sure if you know that the DART from Westland Row station to Dun Laoire ( Queenstown under British Rule) This line is the first purpose built passenger railway in 1834 and extended then as you see today to Roslaire Harbour-Euro- port This line of 70% is along the coast and very beautiful 2 hours 35 minutes Also in south Dublin same line Navi s had to tunnel true the hardest rock 🪨 known to man This is known as Brunel s Folly as the first time trying to get true The line was moved 50 Meters in land as Costal erosion This is the only thing that Brunel was beating with Ok buddy thanks 🙏 and do cross the Irish Sea and Enjoy it John Dublin Ireland 🇮🇪
HA! Someone knows more than me! I always joke that I’m moments away from beginning the construction of Metrolink myself. I was originally supposed to be in my late teens when it was set for completion. Now if all goes as expected I’ll be in my late thirties. I think I’m Ireland theres always been a lot of taboo surrounding construction due to past traumas. It’s seems as though striving for perfection is the only fathomable course of action. Yet I always look around and say to myself, ‘to date what has the state constructed successfully?’. More importantly, when one is starving would one refuse a bland meal? That logic seems to be oft missing when considering the need to invest public money into public works.
What has been constructed successfully? Motorways. (and two luas lines i suppose but that is woefully little compared to the sheer number of road projects.)
@anoniaino luas "cross-city" was a disaster, waste of time and money for a poor, inefficient service. It should have been underground, phase one of the planned metro
@@paddymcelligott5375 And it takes up the approach track towards Broadstone station, which Irish Rail actually wanted to reopen but we got docklands instead. It also beats me why they don’t run more frequent trams and segregate them from traffic better.
Completely agree - the trams are too long and the turns are too sharp to enable it to go much quicker than walking speed. Tunnelling from Parnell to Charlemont would turn the green line into a premetro as in Antwerp, with relatively straightforward conversion into a metro@@paddymcelligott5375
Thanks for your very informative video. IMHO the extension of the LUAS from Stephen's Green over to the Northside has been nothing more than a vanity project and a disaster. Dublin is still mostly served by buses which are diverted to accommodate the LUAS and the city centre is clogged up with traffic and delays to allow for this vanity project.
There is also huge expansion of rail and bus infrastructure due in Cork. The number of commuter rail stations will be more than doubled and a brand new tram line will cross the entirety of the city. Before all that, there is huge works and plans being done on reforming and expanding bus routes, including new bus lanes, cycle lanes, and loads of new routes
You have dine an exemplary detailing the ongoing problems with Irish public transport. Part of the rail cutbacks is due in part to the Beeching railway report due to the Irish punt £ linked to UK sterling till 1978 meant lots of Irish railways was ripped up.
Thank you. Very informative. I am totally in favour of any increase in public transport, but it raises some hackles for the following reason. Tens of thousands of properties will skyrocket in value, due to the expansion of public transport into their area. Infrastructure paid for by all of us, but due to the disparity in capital gains tax, vs labour taxes, these homeowners are in effect being gifted 50K plus Euros by everyone else. We need to stop favouring income raised through capital and if a public spend increases your property's value, there should be a higher rate again.
There is now a new plan to develop long distance railways across Ireland, including reopening the closed line to Strabane. But why not electrify the whole line from Dublin to Belfast?
Dart will use 1.5KV DC. Intercity will use 25KV AC. They're not going to use DC past Drogheda. The future Enterprise will be commonly used dual voltage compatible when electrification happens.
They should reopen most of the old tram lines as part of the Luas and extend the green line to Foxrock and Enniskerry and the red line to Rathcoole and beyond. They should also build another metro line to Rathfarnham, Tallaght and Booterstown.
Unfortunately, due to bad planning, they seem to do the same mistakes again as they previously did with the Tram, initially without connections between green and red lines ! They should probably have first interlined the Dart lines as initially planned as a RER style Metro (NE/SW and SW/NE). A minima, allowing by works on the tram line, the North Coastal Dart to use the tram tracks before heading west as a so called "Tram-Train" System. Then, building the hypothetic N/S Metro lines priorizating connections with the new "Dart - RER" and Tram systems. But it's another story...
As someone who's rail connection to the city will suffer under these DART+ plans, I opposed them, it's going to make my morning anf evening commute to university a lot worse. Having to swap at the kip that is Howth Junction is a deal breaker, I'll be driving into university as a result if it goes ahead as planned.
Took me 2 hours to get from Tallaght to Swords (two major population centres on opoosite ends of city) by bus last Sunday- that is a joke for such a small city and leads to a lot of unnecessary traffic congestion. I won't hold me breath- they had this planned 20 years ago but alas Boomer Bertie Failers and all the rest are 20 years behind the rest of us
Good video. As a commuter i was glad to see this ambitious project but in true irish form they neglected to add toilets to the new trains on order and omitted toilets from several stations, so a commute from currently takes 1hr10 to Connolly and this will increase when the dart replaces the commuter trains, the commuter trains dont stop at every station but darts do, so id hazard a guess of an additional 5 to 10 minutes, any train over an hour should require toilets, irish planners seem to have an issue with toilets in both transport and public places, probably dont want to have to clean them. Also the seating capacity is almost half what we currently have, more standing room. Dont expect to see many pregnant women on this train.
Interestingly, the question has arisen as to whether these improvements are actually needed. Post Covid, the commuter landscape has changed dramatically. If my office is typical (American owned, financially oriented previously nine to five) the official attendance regime is hybrid, two days in office per week. In reality, out of 600 desks, there is only an average of three to four dozen per day. One Friday I only counted a dozen heads in the entire building. This gives less than 10% attendance. Shopping patterns have also been changed by Covid, which has accelerated the movement from retail to delivery. Obviously improvements in the rail infrastructure in this city are needed but a return to the five day week is unlikely in the medium term, and plans should be modified accordingly.
Ireland expects to have massive trade and budget surpluses for the next few years (until the next recession hits !) so now is the time to invest in new updated infrastructure.
Im very much looking forward to when it fully opens, but i honestly think it should be extended south west towards Naas / Newbridge & Connecting Wicklow. Unfortunate its surrounded by scandals & budget inflations
honestly this all sounds great, the automated part sounds a little like dreams though as i know for a fact 3 major stops are too hellish to teach to ai safely (looking at you tara street)
It seems kind of wild to put this lack of development down to ww2 etc, when other countries experienced orders of magnitude more damage and impact, not to mention Ireland being neutral. BUT, better late than never, very excited to think I may get a functioning rail system
Ok i've no idea where "Salgo" is, but i'm wondering if its anywhere near Sligo? :P ( I'll excuse Galway being pronounced Gal-way, because that's how it looks phonetically. ) That aside, decent video on this. Fair play.
