In its editorial last Thursday, the Irish Times commented that, “a recurring criticism of the way this State conducts its affairs relates to the inordinate length of time and money it takes to complete major infrastructure projects. The decades-long saga of the Dublin airport rail link, the labyrinthine tale of the National Children’s Hospital, even the unnecessary decade it took to connect the capital’s two Luas lines – all speak to a culture of political vacillation, bureaucratic inertia and public litigiousness.
Against this backdrop, it would be easy to undervalue the modest achievements that are currently making a positive contribution to the quality of people’s lives, particularly in Dublin, such as the official opening this week of Kishoge train station, serving the new suburb of Clonburris.”
It went on to complement the BusConnects system, “the ambitious reconfiguration of Dublin’s bus network” that is beginning to have an impact on the city as well as extending footpaths.
Opening up old train stations, rejigging the bus timetable and car routes through Dublin city and extending footpaths is all well and good. But it remains the case that Ireland is underdeveloped when it comes to major infrastructure projects. The Port Tunnel is probably the best of them, a huge project that came through. My personal gripe is the lack of underground train network or tube or metro, whatever takes your fancy. We don’t have one and it’s shameful. Also, the fact that Dublin airport is not connected via a train link is a national embarrassment.
I was lucky enough to take the children on various short trips to Paris, London and Barcelona over the summer (having predicted correctly that it would be a rubbish summer weather wise.) When you travel to these cities, indeed most European cities, you are reminded once again how superior their transport system is compared to Ireland.
Yes, the road system has improved immensely but I have long preferred taking the train, both long distance and short distance whenever possible. Train travel is usually far more comfortable and civilised. The sooner the Euro 9.5 billion Metrolink line is built, the better.
Infrastructure spending, especially on transport, is one of the few things I am happy to see taxpayer’s money spent on. Think of all the other things it goes on, interest on government debt, inflated salaries of the public sector or just straight forward transfer payments. At least with a bridge or a road or a train line or station you can actually see what you have paid for. You can stand in it or on it. It may even benefit your life by shortening your commute time.
Readers might believe I am a more pro-car person than public transport but that is not the case. I am heavily dependent on the car now but until about 5 years ago I could not even drive. We didn’t own a car until we moved to the suburbs in London. I loved taking the children into London on the tube and they enjoyed it too. It is far more interesting if a slower way to travel with young children. In fact, I spent one summer with 3 of them under about 5 going to the Southbank, the Natural History Museum, London bridge and the Science Museum and it was all done with a 5-year-old, a toddler and another in a pram. Someone always helped me up the stairs of a tube station if needed, they felt sorry for me. Sadly, my fourth is now chauffeured here, there and everywhere and worse for it. His favourite journey was, of course, a trip into town on the Enterprise. Every time he even sees a train, he demands to go on it.
The underground system in both London and Paris is, to state the obvious, awe-inspiring. You are sitting there, zooming underground, due to the vision, engineering and hard work of thousands of others. The Eurostar was a work of absolute genius, not just under ground but under the flipping sea.
First, underground train routes are so vast, covering so many miles they allow the city to expand. Heathrow for years had just one tube line, the Piccadilly line. Now it is also served by the Elizabeth line, which is cleaner, faster and more comfortable. It seems that having a monarch will get you all sorts of extra tube lines. The Fleet line was renamed the Jubilee line in 1977 as part of the celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s silver Jubilee and then extended to the east of London. It is also a work of engineering art.
London also has cross rail. Yes, the British government had to dump HS2 at huge expense but that was one of the few infrastructure programmes that was curtailed.
Even Barcelona has a great underground network connected of course to airports. I travelled with three of the children there, I didn’t really know what I was doing but we managed to find our way around. Barcelona isn’t even a capital city, and you can still get wherever you want on the underground train system.
Long-distance trains in Ireland could also improve. Why for instance are there repeated extensions of the Dart line? Now the Dart was an excellent innovation, but I’m told this electrified system is going to be extended to my local train station Drogheda. Why? The Dart works over relatively small distances, not Drogheda to Dublin. In fact this proposed extension will impact on other commuters closer to the city. The Irish Times reported, “Passengers travelling to and from Howth, Sutton and Bayside into Dublin may have to change trains along the way in the future as the direct service faces curtailment to make way for more frequent services between Drogheda and the city centre.”
So another DART extension on the cheap. Clearly, there needs to be a separate line completely running from Drogheda to Dublin with maybe one stop in between. Cheap, cheap, cheap. Londoners get an entirely new flipping underground line to Heathrow. These fools can’t even lay out an overground. DARTs are not suitable for the distance between Drogheda to Dublin. It’s ridiculous.
Why is there a need for a relatively slow, quite noisy, electrified train that will take ages to get into Dublin city as it is going to stop at every station between Drogheda and Connolly? If I want to get to Malahide, I’d drive there. If I want to get to Skerries, I will also drive there (that station isn’t even in the town centre.) I already avoid the suburban trains that are unbelievably noisy, dirty and overcrowded. I only ever get the Enterprise, which is train travel as it ought to be. The Dart extension will now make the journey slower and less frequent and impact on other commuters elsewhere. I just don’t understand the thinking here.
Anyway, for once I urge the government to put their hands in our pockets and continue to improve the rail system in Ireland, both long distance and in the city. The current situation is an embarrassment.
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