Diesel-Powered DART?

Sir, - Some years ago, while on holiday in Salzburg, Austria, I noticed that the city transport system was provided by single…

Sir, - Some years ago, while on holiday in Salzburg, Austria, I noticed that the city transport system was provided by single-decker, non-polluting trolley buses, using twin trollies and twin overhead wires.

When a bus reached the outer suburbs of the city, the trolley was lowered, an in-built diesel engine was switched on, and the remainder of the route was serviced by diesel power.

Moves are afoot to extend the DART system to Greystones to the south and Malahide to the north. It occurs to me that, if diesel motors were built into some of the new DART coaches, an extension to Greystones and Arklow to the south, and Malahide and Drogheda to the north could be provided without any alteration to the existing permanent way, or earthing of the rails beyond Bray or Howth junction. Dual-powered units could also be used on the Maynooth branch.

The idea sounds so simple. Any comments from CIE or your readers? Yours, etc.,

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Jim Nolan,

Taney Road, Dublin 14.