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DUBLIN
 Ireland/Eire

Dublin Rail Map © R. Schwandl

Click on map to expand to full size!


 System

Dublin is the capital of Ireland and is home to 1 million inhabitants (1.6 million in the metropolitan area).

The current system consists of a 50 km electrified heavy rail line known as the DART and a 42 km light rail network known as Luas. The Luas lines (Red and Green, known as A/C and B while in the planning stage) were opened in 2004. The DART was opened in 1984 and originally ran from Portmarnock and Howth to Bray. It was extended from Bray to Greystones and from Portmarnock to Malahide in 1999/2000. DART was created by electrifying old lines that date from the 19th century.

 

   Luas (Red Line)  Tallaght / Saggart - Connolly / The Point, 20.7 km

The Luas Red Line runs on-street in the city centre and is mostly on a dedicated right-of-way (partly using an old canal bed), though with level crossings, in the suburbs. It starts at Connolly Station in the city centre, where transfer to intercity and DART trains is possible, and runs west along streets before turning southwest to Tallaght. The Red Line, which was known as Line A/C during the planning phase, opened in September 2004. It was eventually extended eastwards to The Point in the docklands area in Dec 2009. The line intersects the heavy rail and DART networks at Heuston and Connolly, and since Dec 2017 also provides transfer to the Green Line at Abbey Street.

A 4.2 km spur line off the Red Line from Belgard to Saggart via Citywest was brought into service in July 2011.

 

Luas Red Line Luas Red Line Luas Red Line Luas Red Line Luas Red Line Luas Red Line Luas Red Line Luas Red Line

 

   Luas (Green Line)  Broombridge - Brides Glen, 23.5 km
The original Luas Green Line started in the centre of the city at St Stephen's Green but did not connect with the Red Line. Until Dec 2017, there was a 1 km gap between the lines at their closest approach. From St Stephen's Green, the line runs for a short distance on city streets before reaching an old elevated heavy rail alignment which was closed in 1959 and reopened as the Green Line in July 2004. Most of the old alignment was intact though some bridges had to be reinstated, the most impressive being the William Dargan Bridge at Taney Cross, Dundrum, where the viaduct passes diagonally over a busy crossroads. The line initially terminated in Sandyford, before being extended further south on a new alignment to Brides Glen in 2010. During off-peak hours, every other tram terminates at Sandyford.

The Crosscity Line (St Stephen’s Green - Broombridge) opened in December 2017 is a 6 km northern extension which starts at the former Green Line terminus in St Stephen’s Green and runs via the city centre to an interchange with the Maynooth heavy rail line at Broombridge. In the city centre northbound trams travel along O’Connell St, while in the opposite direction they run via Marlborough Street. A new bridge for southbound trams and buses was constructed across the River Liffey east of O’Connell Bridge. The new line intersects the existing Red Line in two places: O’Connell St / Abbey St (northbound) and Marlborough St / Abbey St (southbound). See project website

Luas Green Line Luas Green Line Luas Green Line Luas Green Line Luas Green Line Luas Green Line Luas Green Line Luas Green Line

 

   DART  Malahide / Howth - Greystones, 50 km
The DART is the name of the service that runs on the electrified section of Dublin's legacy heavy rail network. It consists of a north-south line from Malahide, north County Dublin, to Greystones, County Wicklow plus a spur to the peninsula of Howth. It is elevated in the city centre, runs in a cutting through the north of the city, and uses short tunnels to traverse the hilly area near Dun Laoghaire and Dalkey.

On non-electrified lines, regional rail service is branded Commuter. Commuter services from Connolly operate north to Drogheda and Dundalk, north west to Maynooth and Longford and south to Gorey. Commuter services from Heuston operate to Kildare and Portlaoise.

 

Dublin DART Dublin DART Dublin DART Dublin DART Dublin DART Dublin DART

 

 History

DART

23 July 1984: Howth - Bray
10 April 2000: Bray - Greystones
09 Oct 2000: Howth Junction - Malahide
01 Sept 1997: Clontarf Road station added
22 Jan 2001: Grand Canal Dock station added

LUAS

30 June 2004: St Stephen’s Green - Sandyford (Green Line) 8.7 km - free service
05 July 2004: full revenue service
28 Sept 2004: Tallaght - Connolly (Red Line) 15.6 km
08 Dec 2009: Busáras - The Point (Red Line) 1.5 km
16 Oct 2010: Sandyford - Bride’s Glen (Green Line) 7.5 km
02 July 2011: Belgard - Saggart (Red Line) 4.2 km
09 Dec 2017: St Stephen’s Green - Broombridge (6 km)

 Projects

METRO

There are two light Metro lines planned for Dublin. Metro North will run from Stephen's Green to Swords (a town to the north of Dublin) via DCU University and Dublin Airport. It will be 17 km long and much of this will be in tunnel. Most will be bored with the section through Ballymun using a cut-and-cover technique. Metro West will be an orbital line running through the western Dublin suburbs from Tallaght to Ballymun, where it will intersect Metro North.

View map with proposed metro lines.

In Sept 2015, the Transport Ministry announced that Metro North will be built between 2021 and 2027 in a revised form, now rebranded "MetroLink" and integrating the southern leg of the Green Line. [Project Website]

DART

There are ambitious plans to upgrade the DART and create a 2-line system which will replace the Arrow services. This will be achieved through the building of a tunnel linking Heuston with Docklands station which is located to the east of Connolly. The Docklands Station opened in 2007 as the first stage of this project. Construction of the tunnel was planned from 2010 to 2015. The DART will then be reorganized as two lines, one running Maynooth-Greystones, and the other from Hazelhatch-Portmarnock/Howth. The electrification of the existing Commuter lines will occur in advance. In Sept 2015, the Transport Ministry announced that DART Underground will be built in a revised form.

LUAS

A proposed Luas line to Lucan (circa 15 km) would start at a junction with Line BXD in College Green and would travel westwards through the city centre. It would share the Red Line’s alignment between Fatima and Blackhorse stops, before continuing via Ballyfermot and Liffey Valley to terminate at the Newcastle Road in Lucan. If built this would be known as Line F during the construction process.

Line B2, a 9 km (approx.) southward extension of the Green Line, would commence at the existing terminus at Bride’s Glen and would follow the M11 motorway to the outskirts of Bray where it would divide into two branches. One of these would terminate at the existing DART station in the eastern side of the town while the other would run to Fassaroe on the town’s western side.

Work on the Lucan and B2 projects has been suspended.

 Books

Tram Atlas Britain & IrelandRobert Schwandl:

TRAM ATLAS BRITAIN & IRELAND

Birmingham, Blackpool, Dublin, Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham, London (Croydon) & Sheffield
+ London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, Tyne-and-Wear Metro, Liverpool Merseyrail & Glasgow Subway + Tram Museums

Numerous colour images, detailed network maps, Text deutsch/English, ISBN 978 3 936573 45 9, Nov. 2015, EUR 19.50

More info

 Links

LUAS - Official Site

Transport for Ireland

Dublin Transportation Office

Department of Transport

Irish Rail (DART)

TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland)

MetroLink Project Website


Luas at Wikipedia

Dublin Metro Project at Wikipedia

 

 

 


2004 © UrbanRail.Net by Robert Schwandl.