Traders, politicians and commuters are all joining in the chorus of disapproval about the DART shutdown - but there is no alternative, theplanners tell Joe Humphreys
A capital city closing one of its main commuter rail lines for the New Year sales - where would you find it? Dublin, of course, where transport planning and logic have rarely seen eye to eye. So say the city traders at least, claiming that the nine-day shutdown of southside DART services after Christmas will have a "significant" and "devastating" impact on business. Politicians have joined the chorus of disapproval, accusing Iarnród Éireann of treating commuters with contempt.
Why then, and why so long, they ask, when other countries appear to do repairs on the go? The short answer, says Joe Leahy, the company's general manager for infrastructure, is that the period in question is "by far the most cost-efficient and least disruptive" of the options available.
The long answer requires looking at what people mean by "repairs".
The €176 million project that includes the works which are shutting down the southside services - and will do the same to the northside route for a period next summer - is the biggest overhaul of the DART since it was opened almost 20 years ago.
Some 86 kilometres of overhead cable installed in 1984 and "reaching the end of its life", according to Leahy, is being replaced for the first time. A total of 45 platforms at 23 stations are being extended to facilitate eight- carriage instead of six-carriage trains.
The number of electrical substations is to be increased from 10 to 15 to power the heavier trains. Half a mile of extra "stabling", or parking space, for 40 new carriages entering service in 2005 is being provided. And all stations - some are up to 160 years old - are being redeveloped to cater for mobility-impaired passengers and improved safety.
When completed in October, 2005, the project should enable the DART to carry 30 per cent more passengers than it does at present. Another 40 per cent increase in capacity will be realised when a second project, upgrading the signalling network, is completed at a future date. However, says Leahy, "we purposefully chose not to do them both at the same time because it would be quite chaotic".
As for the current works, he says disruption is unavoidable. "The idea that we can put in pre-cast or pre-fabricated platforms overnight does not hold," he says.
Project manager Peter Cuffe notes that work areas can only be accessed by "on-track machines", and for safety reasons these can only operate when overhead cables are switched off. Nor can trains operate on a parallel line as the machinery may tilt into their path.
To date, all works have been confined to the weekend and, says Cuffe, "it has been beaten into us how important it is to have it back up on Monday morning". This is not without its cost, however, with the last "four to five hours" of every weekend spent restoring each section of line that has been repaired in order to be ready for the first train of the working week.
The work over the Christmas period will tackle a particularly troublesome maze of overhead cabling, or "celestial knitting" as it's known in the business. Platform extension work and track realignment will also take place. Leahy says there is "very little traffic" during the period in question with an average of 25,000 passengers a day during the post-Christmas week compared to 90,000 during normal weekdays. The alternative, he says, "would be to tie up probably another 10 to 12 weekends to do the same work".
As for comparisons with other countries, Cuffe cites renewal projects on inter-city routes in the UK, including those at Crewe and Birmingham, where "there was a policy of shutting lines for seven months at a time".
"It doesn't matter where you are, you can't alter configurations without stopping trains," adds Leahy.
Since last month an extra 60 buses have been put on each weekend on neighbouring Dublin Bus routes to cater for redirected passengers. Ten Dublin Bus inspectors have been placed along the route to give instructions to people who are not familiar with stops and timetables. A Dublin Bus spokeswoman says a similar level of coverage will be provided for the shutdown after Christmas.