Dublin’s DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) was launched over 42 years ago on July 23, 1984. Originally labelled as a white elephant, the vital system has proved crucial to Dublin’s livelihood, providing a frequent, electrified, cross-city service. However, four decades later, the line appears eerily similar to the one unveiled in the 80s. Expansion has been limited, investment patchy, and half the rolling stock still consists of the original 1984 trains, museum exhibits providing a service for commuters not even born when they were constructed. What should have been the foundation for a broad, electrified commuter rail network, ala the London Underground, is now a bottlenecked system incompatible with Dublin’s ever-growing transit needs. Now, as congestion in Dublin is reaching a critical status, development plans still sound as far off as they did when they were discussed in the early 2000s, leaving us with a pertinent question. Where did it all go wrong… and what will our incompetencies cost us?
Lacklustre Investment in the Absence of Political Will
Since the launch of the DART, Ireland’s procrastinators in chief (The Government) have overseen cycles of announcements, perpetual public reviews, and deferment vis-à-vis public transport infrastructure in Dublin. Both Irish political incentives and the Irish legal and planning environment have hampered Dublin from receiving the investment it deserves. The long delivery times associated with rail infrastructure far exceed the lifespan of a typical government, which would rather cash in public support from short-term and non-risky road building projects than prioritise long-term needs. Furthermore, the feasible construction of such rail projects is constrained by a culture of nimbyism. Planning processes are lengthy and unpredictable, with Strategic Infrastructure Development applications (SIDs) taking an average of nine months just to secure initial planning permission (Permission that is almost guaranteed to be delayed by judicial appeals). Overall, the realities of Irish infrastructure provision have allowed delays to become endemic, evidenced clearly by the Dart Underground Project. DART underground, a proposed underground railway line that would connect Heuston and Connolly and link all rail services in Dublin, was first considered in the 70s. Only after construction was recommended twice by two separate transport strategy studies did Irish Rail begin to seriously look into the project. Feasibility studies were carried out in the early 2000s, and a preliminary design was completed in May 2008. Planning permission was eventually granted in 2011, but the government opted to make do with cheaper workarounds (The Phoenix Park Tunnel and Dart+), which postponed the problem rather than solving it. Although the need for this scheme is clear, it has been completely sidelined and not scheduled for its ‘planning and design phase’ until after 2042. Delays such as this add billions to infrastructure price tags, allow the costs of congestion to accumulate, and worst of all, are completely avoidable.
A Delayed Saving Grace
There is one small light at the end of this dark and gloomy rail tunnel. The DART+ scheme will provide long-overdue overhauls to Dublin’s transport system, replacing the current rolling stock and tripling the amount of electrified track. However, the Irish Government, doing what it does best, have once again been responsible for delays in the DART+ project. A former 2:1 ratio of spending on public transport relative to roads was recently revised down to 1:1, resulting in the deferment of several ‘shovel-ready’ aspects of DART+. Despite being granted planning permission in 2024, DART+ Southwest will not go to public procurement until 2028 and will only start construction in 2030 at the earliest due to the removal of anticipated funds. This issue is compounded by the critical nature of DART+ Southwest for the proper connectivity of the State’s largest new housing developments. To make matters worse, the eventual construction of these lines will only exacerbate the issue. The current Southwest commuter line will be closed for six months during construction. Similarly, the construction of Metrolink will close sections of the western commuter line for 21 months. These construction projects, which should have been completed well in advance of this congestion crisis, will push people back into their cars, and there is no space for them to go.
The Cost of it All: A City Characterised by Congestion.
According to TomTom, Dublin is now the world’s 3rd most traffic congested city, a catastrophe that is costing the average traveller 191 hours of their time a year and the government €330m euro per year(forecasted to rise to €1.5bn by 2040). This is an issue that anyone could see coming, yet barely any action was taken. As to why we let this happen as a country… well, this video sums it up well.