Sir, – Nowhere in the reports of the celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Dart (News, July 24th) is it mentioned that the Dart, as it is currently constituted, represents only the first phase of what was supposed to be an integrated rapid transit network serving the greater Dublin area – hence the name Dublin Area Rapid Transit.
As a 20-year-old engineering student in 1975, I recall the publication by CIÉ of the Dublin Rail Rapid Transit Study, which included proposed rapid rail lines to serve the then new suburbs of Tallaght, Clondalkin and Blanchardstown, with electrified rail extending to Maynooth and Sallins, all connected to an electrified Howth to Bray line via a city centre underground railway line.
The existing Dart represents the first phase of that integrated public transport plan, albeit, with subsequent extensions to Greystones and Malahide.
Short-term and small-minded thinking ensured that subsequent phases of this exciting and much-needed system were never delivered over the past four decades.
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This failure is not really a cause for celebration.
We are now (again) promised a “Dart+” which covers some of the missing phases of the original Dart plan, but without the all-important city centre underground section which would ensure a free-flowing high capacity and connected network.
In my retirement, I look forward to free travel on the “Dart+” serving nearby Maynooth, promised for around 2030, a mere 55 years after the original plans were published! – Yours, etc,
ADRIAN CONWAY,
Kilcloon,
Co Meath.