Phoenix Park Tunnel Photos
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The tunnel was built to hadle rolling stock much larger than what runs today. The average width of modern rolling stock is 9.0′ – Park Royal coaches were 9.10″ and were passing each other in the park tunnel up until the early 1990’s. The tunnel is caverous inside and can handle anything.
There is a picture of a Galway train from 1973 at the bottom of this page going into the tunnel with Park Royal coache in 1973:
http://www.platform11.org/dconnector.html
also you don’t widen the tunnel at all – if needed. You lower it – overhead catenery could be installed inside the tunnel if needed with only minor modifations. Chances are the tunnel is ready to go as is:
http://www.platform11.org/lower.jpg
The tunnel is HUGE – CIE are spoofers and guess what’s happening this morning:
from breakingnews.ie:
TDs to visit disused Dublin rail track
23/07/2003 – 8:31:12 amMembers of the Oireachtas transport committee are due to visit the disused rail track under the Phoenix Park in Dublin today.
The track connects Heuston and Connolly stations.
The Oireachtas transport committee is examining the possibility of developing the line in an effort to encourage more commuters to use rail services.
Non of this would of happened without Platform11 – pity they didn;t exsist years ago and have called CIE to task for their carry on over the years.
I foound this on the P11 website:
http://www.platform11.org/too_narrow.html
Goldmine of interesting information. I hope hese guys don;t wear annoraks and live with their mammies
Yes an excellent site and I didn’t know of its existence until I read this thread.
I remember now where I heard the “too narrow” argument it was a program RTE did on tunnels in the capital (discussed on this forum also). I think Duncan Stewart presented it.
So RTE are helping spread the propaganda.
To be fair to RTE they only repeated what they were told by CIE. Seamus Brennan stood up in the Dail and said the same. A few months later he stopped saying it – he realised his had been lied to, just like the previous Ministers. CIE management were caught making fools of people in government and playing on their ignorance of rail transport and that seems to be over now.
It speaks volumns I think about the mentality of the CIE management. The ran the railways like their own private little Hornby Railway Set and really did believe like the unions that we paid taxes to CIE and they only had a responsibility to themselves and their employees – integrated public transport didn;t interest them.
Now that the game is up – look at how they decided that railfreight was to be dumped by Dr John Lynch of CIE last November because, accoding to him, a world expert on rail transport and cream liquers that “Ireland is too small and has no heavy industry for railfreight” – then Norforkline (runs sucessfull freight trains operations all over Europe) and Coilte said they would run their own trains and as if by magic CIE suddenly start running their service for Norkfolline and Coillte that Dr Lynch and his freight experts at CIE/Irish Rail said were impossible a few months eariler.
Norfolkline are now running a regular freight service now between Waterford and Cork that last Noverment Dr John Lych said was to be closed because their was no traffic. The line was bringin in millions a year in containers and sugar beet. It’s just amazing and sickening when you think about it. This is the mentality of the peple running Irish railways.
They have been caught lying to the polticians, media, freight users and taxpayers to hide decades of incompetance and laziness. When you get down to the nitty gritty the main reason is that CIE management and unions don’t utilise the Phoenix Park and Spencer Dock becuase they just don’t feel like it. End of story.
This is how out of touch with reality and their public remit they are and this is why we need a serious overhaul of public transport in this country to make the most of what rail infrastructre we already have and stop rubbish such as train drivers and guards getting taxis home from Longford to Dublin and the entire intercity network stopping at teatime because the CIE unions through decades of nepotism and inter-generational emloyment have evolved to a few dozens families in Dublin holding the rest of to randsom and denying us a decent public
transport system.Oh dear!
There was a report about this on the 11 o’clock newsthis morning on Lite FM. The report said that the “disused” tunnel was unviable!
When the report was aired, there was no mention from the Oireachtas committee, just good old loud mouth Barry Kenny saying that it wouldnt help Dublin’s congestion and that IE is commited to the Interconnector to Spencer Dock.
What a load of nonsense… of course its usable. Don’t GAA coaches use it on big match days!
CIE are totally inept and there is a terrible culture in the semi-states of telling almighty fibs, I don’t know why.
The other unbelivable nonsense is the Port Tunnel is high enough. When the situation is that more than 10% per cent of trucks will have to rumble through Dublin’s streets when opened.
INCOMPETENCE to quote a famous politician GUBU. If CIE don’t want to run services through to Connolly from Heuston, well they can all clear off. We need a crosslink now, not in 15 years when metro, if it ever is built.
As for DCC ‘engineering’ department and the NRA and ‘oh we don’t need crash barriers on motorways’. If you didn’t laugh you’d cry!
I’m sure CIE can do whatever they need to to the Phoenix Park tunnel that they did to the tunnels linking Bray- to -Greystones for the DART extension to Greystones…….
Well it is high time that the government and RTE actually did proper research into these issues.
No-one knew that a tunnel existed between Heuston and Connelly. This means that CIE kept it a secret.
When it was discovered, CIE insisted it was too small, but no-one went down with a measuring tape to look. That is all it would have taken – a standard 30 ft builders measuring tape.
And finally booz hamilton think spending a billion on building a brand new tunnel is a better option, when we don’t even have a metro service.
I mean, I read the booz report, and it is a disgracefully shoddy piece of rubbish. In their section on ‘how to build a world class system’ not once did they mention electrified very high speed rail of 350km plus. That to me as the most advanced technology in use is by definition a world class system.
They obviously considered this scenario too unrealistic, and that it would be laughed at if they bothered mentioning it. But then why claim the slow diesel system is world class when it patently isn’t. I thought their job was to keep all options on the table.
They should never be employed in a such a serious study again.
I agrree about the long walk from the DART Platform to the exit – maybe they should put on a shuttle train? it is almost as quick to get off at Tara and walk over the Butt Bridge – depending where you are headed of course.
It’s infuriating to have to pass the place where the entrance should be (was) if you’re walking down from the north.
Takes me more than 3 minutes anyway. It has to be the worst designed DART stop on the system. And that’s saying something.I have to agree ew. They really made a balls up of the stop here. I dont see why they couldnt have rebuilt the original DART ticket hall and included an entrance into the main station for mainline and LUAS links.
Its only when you have to use it every day that you really notice things like these.
It drives me nuts every morning, esp after getting off a delayed train.Related from Northside People….
Broadstone rail plan gains support
THE proposal by Cabra Community Council to re-establish the Broadstone railway line has received the support of the Dublin Institute of Technology, Maynooth College and the area committee of Dublin City Council.
CCC proposes the redevelopment of the old Broadstone Line from Cabra to Broadstone to run as part of the Maynooth-Dublin suburban service.
The Maynooth-Dublin line can cater for eight trains per hour peak time but because of signal congestion in Connolly, there are only two trains per hour.
Aodhan Perry, chairperson of CCC, said the community council’s proposal could increase the overcrowded service by at least 100 per cent.
“And the redevelopment of this line could be carried out without causing any train or traffic disruption and for a reasonable cost as Iarnrod Eireann already own the land which is currently lying idle,†he said.
The Broadstone terminal would be located close to the Luas line in Smithfield as well as being beside the new DIT campus being developed in Grangegorman, where there are expected to be 20,000 students). Other links include the Law Society, the HARP development and the city centre.
“Broadstone is as close to the city Centre as Connolly Station, which makes it a desirable destination,†said Mr Perry.
Cabra Community Council is also proposing the development of a major train hub at Liffey Junction (Cabra) which would entail the connection of Heuston Station with Connolly Station without the massive and prohibitive cost of tunnelling.
“Our proposal is to use existing rail lines which pass within 500m of each other at Liffey Junction. A platform linking each line would allow for a Heuston – Connolly link for a fraction of the cost of Tunnelling,†said Mr Perry.
He added that their proposals will increase services on an already overburdened line.
“We will fulfil peoples wishes for a decent public transport service,†he said. “In doing so, we will also save the taxpayer millions by utilising lands owned by Iarnrod Eireann but currently lying idle. The support of DIT, Maynooth and the local elected representatives is most welcome and we intend to continue to press for a speedy implementation of our plans.â€
Cabra Community Council’s proposal also calls on the Minister of Transport to ensure that the proposed METRO link to the airport is run through the Ballymun, Finglas, Cabra and North Inner City suburbs as originally proposed in the rail document, ‘A Platform for Change’.
“ Any Metro link with the airport must be located in the highly populated areas of North and Central Dublin,†said Mr Perry. “Our communities must be given the opportunity to avail of a state of the art rail service which will bring massive social and economic benefit to our communities.â€
The reopening of the Phoenix Park Tunnel is without doubt potentially the most cost effective transport project in Ireland.
It has the backing of Iarnrod Eirrean, DCC, Platform11 and pretty much everyone in West Dublin, Kildare, Carlow and Laois.
Why is nothing concrete happening on this?
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