SOME 20 years after a Dart spur to Dublin airport was first mooted, Iarnród Éireann has finally produced a business case for this proposal – at the request of Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar. And the project certainly seems attractive, particularly in the current circumstances. The proposed 7km line could be built for just €200 million (excluding VAT), according to the rail company’s consultants, and would deliver an “exceptionally high” economic return, boosting Dart passenger numbers by almost 50 per cent.
The main reason it could be built so cheaply is that the line would run through green fields from Clongriffin to the airport, underneath its protected flightpath. Land acquisition along the route would also be relatively cheap, given the steep fall in values since the peak of the property boom. Conversely, none of the communities on Dublin’s north fringe would be served by the proposed line, nor would it extend beyond the airport to Swords; its burgeoning population would be offered “feeder” bus services.
There is no doubt that Dublin airport is a “major source of employment and trip-making”, as the consultants say. Most, although not all, European capital cities have rail services to their principal airports, not just to cater for people catching planes, but also “meeters and greeters”, airport employees and others working in the environs. Although boom-time projections for Dublin Airport’s growth have turned out to be wildly optimistic, it would be desirable to provide the airport with a rail link to the city centre.
What was never considered, however, was the possibility of diverting the Dublin-Belfast mainline through the airport, following the example of Switzerland, where it is possible to travel almost anywhere by train from Zurich and Geneva airports. In Dublin’s case, such a bold plan would have had the additional benefit of freeing up the congested northern line for commuter services while eliminating scheduling conflicts between mainline and commuter trains. But such lateral thinking has never been one of our strong suits.
Mr Varadkar now has the business cases for all four of the “big ticket” public transport projects – Metro North, which would cost at least €3 billion; Dart Underground (€2 billion), the city centre Luas link (€400 million) and now the airport Dart spur. And only one of these is now likely to proceed. At €200 million, the airport rail spur is clearly the cheapest. In formulating its new national development plan, the Government needs to weigh up what makes sense for Dublin in transportation terms.