Sixty more buses planned to make up for lost DART

Additional Dublin Bus services to be provided during weekend rail closures will not be dedicated services calling at DART stations and "will not attempt to replicate the DART service", it has emerged.

Dublin Bus said yesterday that 60 additional buses will be slotted into five existing routes - numbers 7, 45, 46A, 59 and 84, but while they may double the existing level of bus services on those routes - at least on Sundays - they should not be considered a replacement DART.

All stations between Grand Canal Dock and Greystones will be closed this weekend and each weekend until December 6th/7th when they will reopen for the busy Christmas shopping period. The €170 million suburban rail enhancement scheme will see the southside line close at weekends for about nine months, followed by nine months of closures on the northside line.

It was initially envisaged the line would remain closed for the duration, but after the intervention of the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, Iarnród Éireann decided to reopen for the Christmas period.

It also emerged yesterday that Iarnród Éireann initially planned to hold a press conference on September 29th last to alert the public to details of the DART closures and alternative bus arrangements.

However, the planned press briefing was pulled at a late stage because the company was concerned about the advertising and design of the information campaign, as well as details of the alternative bus arrangements.

Instead, the company yesterday began a poster campaign in DART stations advising commuters what services will be available - less than two days before the first weekend closure.

Iarnród Éireann's press officer, Mr Barry Kenny, said notice of the works and the closures had been announced on electronic displays and in leaflets from Tuesday last, but not, he accepted, on the details of the alternative bus service.

"Posters are going up as we speak," he said, before adding that there was no doubt that the company "would do it differently, if it was to do it again".

Meanwhile, Bus Éireann has warned all intending passengers to ascertain their nearest bus routes and not to expect to be brought back to the places they were used to arriving at on the DART service.

The company said DART tickets would not be valid for use on the buses. Iarnród Éireann is to hand out weekend "Day Rambler" tickets to passengers who purchase monthly tickets, to cover the weekend periods. Those with existing monthly tickets should apply to their local DART stations for their rambler bus tickets.

A spokesman for Iarnród Éireann stressed that trains would run on Fridays as usual. Mainline trains to Arklow and Rosslare would involve special bus connections from Connolly to either Greystones or Arklow.

A Greystones town councillor, Mr Derek Mitchell (FG), has appealed to Bus Éireann to make its additional buses express buses. "It takes 90 minutes to get to Dublin by bus and just 50 by DART," he commented.