This submission is a response to the National Transport Authority’s Public Consultation on the North Dublin Transport Study with a deadline of 19th January 2015 as advertised at: http://www.nationaltransport.ie/consultations/public-consultation-on-the-north-dublin-transport-study/

An Taisce welcomes the study and the opportunity to submit a submission.

An Taisce welcome the inclusion of the three Swiftway services and the Dart Underground in the Do Minimum scenario. Dart Underground must be the first priority as it integrated services across Leinster and maximises benefits of the significant existing network.

An Taisce commends the sensible analysis of the different options and generally agrees with the one’s which have been eliminated, with the exception of the Heuston-Airport Rail option which we will discuss below. The six short-listed schemes are a sensible list and An Taisce would welcome the opportunity to be involved in the next stage of the process.

Having built Luas Cross City and the Swiftway BRT to Swords the idea of running Metro North parallel to the Luas from Stephen’s Green to Parnell Square and then parallel to the Swiftway to Swords is crazy. We note that the passenger forecasts for Metro North have been reduced by the RPA to 12,000 passengers per direction per hour. In An Taisce’s submission to the Metro North Oral Hearing we called for the Metro North to be compared to three BRT routes on: the Ballymun corridor, Swords corridor and the Dublin Port tunnel. This can easily deliver 12,000 passengers per direction per hour. It would also serve both the Ballymun and Swords road corridors in Dublin City and provide fast express access to the Airport and Swords. See the Aris Venetikidis maps for illustrations: http://www.venetikidis.com/ArisV/DUBLIN_TRANSPORT_MAP.html. If a rail option is still to be considered it should server areas that do not already have a high quality BRT or LRT service and not duplicate existing investment.

An Taisce would like one of the eliminated options to be reconsidered, namely heavy rail HR9 Heuston to Swords via Phoenix Park Tunnel. We note that this was eliminated due to the distance from Islandbridge to Heuston and the need to transfer to get to the City Centre Core. However, we believe one key factor has not been considered the potential benefits for the National Rail Network.

An Taisce suggests continuing the option to connect with the Northern Line at Donabate and with the Dublin City – Airport – Swords Port Tunnel BRT. This would open up the following opportunities:

• Passengers from Dublin Airport or Swords would have a direct express Port Tunnel BRT service to the City Centre. • Passengers from Dublin Airport or Swords could also use the new Dart service and interchange at Donabate (Balbriggan DART), Broombridge (Maynooth and Dunboyne DART and Luas Green) or Heuston/Islandbridge (Kildare DART). • It would also facilitate the potential to run a electrified national rail service from Belfast – Donabate - Dublin Airport – Broombridge – Islandbridge – Cork.

In the context of planning to 2035 the national rail network must be considered. An electrified direct Belfast – Cork services is not an outlandish proposal.

See the map in the appendices, which illustrate this.

Download the submission here.