The Government is examining metro options to improve access to Dublin Airport, but it needs to cast the net much wider to cater for the airport's national role, writes Brian Richardson
The Dublin Transportation Office is currently suggesting options for rail access for Dublin Airport. But the DTO is, by definition, looking for a Dublin solution, which does not take into account the national aspect of the airport.
A cursory glance around the airport car parks reveals registrations from Monaghan, Donegal, Offaly, Louth, Carlow and Tipperary mixed with a sprinkling from north of the Border. This is because Dublin Airport serves not only Dublin and its immediate hinterland, but a large tract of the island.
This is far from unique. For example, many French people would regard Charles de Gaulle airport as their gateway to the world because its choice of destinations is far greater than from any of the country's regional airports.
The same is true of Dublin Airport, yet the current thinking for rail access is a Dublin-only solution. Experience elsewhere would suggest that this is not the ultimate answer.
In London, when the underground was extended out to Heathrow many years ago, it was a great advance, but ultimately it had to be supplanted by mainline rail - the Heathrow Express. This link still only gets you to London; passengers to and from Bristol or Cardiff, for example, are not facilitated.
In Paris, the original rail access to Charles de Gaulle airport was a suburban line, running from the Gare du Nord. This was later extended under the city-centre, right out to the southern suburbs. But, despite that, the whole service to the airport has since been upgraded, with a mainline station taking high-speed TGVs.
By contrast with London, a national hinterland is opened up. Travellers to the Loire Valley, for example, simply take the appropriate TGV from the airport.
In Frankfurt and Zurich, one rail connection handles both suburban, national and even international connections, really facilitating the traveller with options. At Geneva, the mainline station is underneath the airport.
In an Irish context, this would be like having Heuston station in the basement of Dublin airport.
Could such a solution work for Dublin? I believe it could, not just for the benefit of all of the greater Dublin area, but for the country as a whole. Putting this solution into practice would involve three steps:
(1) A new mainline rail station at the approaches to the Phoenix Park tunnel; it already exists as platform 10. This would allow trains from the south and west to avoid Heuston's "dead end" and continue their journey;
(2) When the line emerges from the Phoenix Park tunnel and continues to Glasnevin, it can be routed on to an airport link running due north from the city-centre;
(3) Extend the airport line through north Co Dublin to join the Belfast line somewhere south of Drogheda - say, near Balbriggan. This would also permit through-running of mainline services, and not just to Belfast.
Because the Cork-Dublin-Belfast route is part of Europe's Trans-European Rail Network, an application for 10 per cent of project costs could be made to the EU; the Government could also avail of loans at preferential interest rates from the European Investment Bank.
The obvious advantage of such a scheme is the mainline access from outside Dublin. There would be a genuine alternative for the traveller from Portlaoise, for example, to taking the car to the airport, with all the associated hassle of congestion on the Naas Road, negotiating the Westlink bridge and the airport roundabout, and finding parking.
With a DART extension from Connolly through Drumcondra, there would be effective access for greater Dublin as a whole, including Bray and Greystones and the high-density south Dublin suburbs. This would help to take some pressure off the M50.
Likewise, Arrow services from Kildare, Newbridge and the west side of Dublin would open airport access to these developing satellite towns.
In this case, the service could continue on to Drogheda, giving an integrated service to greater Dublin. The airport station would therefore become a rail hub in its own right. Passengers would have ready and easy interchange between mainline and DART and Arrow systems, something which is lacking at the moment.
Through-running of mainline services from Belfast to Cork via the airport (with connections to other parts of the south and west) would be a boon to the travelling public, as not all rail-users want to travel to and from Dublin. Limerick to Dundalk by rail would now be an option.
Pressure would be relieved on the DART and mainline section from Connolly to Howth Junction. Rumour has it that Northern Ireland Railways would like to run the Enterprise service hourly, but Iarnród Éireann won't hear of it due to congestion on this stretch.
Operationally, with through-running from Cork to Belfast, a lot of time would be saved with train turnaround, both at Connolly and at Heuston. These savings in time would be the equivalent of making an extra train-set available to the rail company.
Quite apart from access to the airport, a commuter rail service along the new line north of the airport would make this a very attractive area for residential development, thereby helping to relieve the chronic shortage of housing in Dublin.
Other beneficiaries would include incoming continental or North American visitors. No longer would they have to hire a car to continue their journey, unused to driving on the "wrong side" of the road. Instead, they could sit in a train and be taken onwards in a relaxed fashion.
Whatever is decided for rail access to Dublin Airport, most users will agree that it is already too late. Let's hope it won't be too little as well and that the solution ultimately adopted will reflect the airport's national role.
Brian Richardson is a mechanical engineer who spent many years living on the continent. Formerly interim chief executive of the Shannon Foynes Port Company, he is now an independent consultant.