Update on Fairfield Park 250917

The Council and the Tidy Towns work hard to keep the area attractive. Currently the area has pay parking from 12 to 18.00

Procurement of Refurbished and New Diesel railcars.

 You are procuring improved carriages, I ask that you get them so that the doors in a limited number of carriages can be opened at short platform stations. These are normal in most other commuter railways but the IR carriages must open all doors on the train which means 8 carriages cannot be used on lines with short platforms (Kilcoole & Rathdrum for example). This will improve the service to Greystones and Wicklow by allowing longer 8 carriage trains in place of the 4 (sometimes 3) carriage ones used for the rush hour diesel services (6.54 & 7.51 ex Greystones).

The latter is standing room only from Wicklow and revised carriages can provide a better service to Greystones and Kilcoole. Greystones is the 5^th busiest suburban station even though there are only a third of DARTS compared to the other stations. This results in the 7.30, 8.00 and 8.30 being crowded. I believe the 8.00 is the busiest train in the country and a longer preceding diesel would relieve pressure. Hence the importance of extra carriages on the diesels.

There is also space in the timetable to run an extra DART at 7.21, by running it down early, even with the present track and signalling system. I would ask that the carriage order provides for this if extra carriages are needed.

The Council has provided the largest Park n’ Ride site (450+ spaces) and largest bike parking (90 spaces) of any DART Station. I am keen to expand these but there needs to be a commitment from IR to improve the service. The limited number of trains produces a peak load and long queues to get off the platform, out of the station and out of the Park n’ Ride which should be addressed by more trains, as mentioned, and station modifications. Cycle parking inside the station could also be accommodated.

The future ‘10 minute’ DART service is billed as an improvement. For Greystones you are planning a worse service with no extra trains and a 5.5 minute increase in journey time (12% increase). This will encourage people to use cars in conflict with sustainable development. The Development targets handed down to the Council are for an extra 4,000 houses in Greystones and many more in Newtown and Wicklow Town and a better transport offering is required for this.

The walk on the inside of the marina will be closed when this is going on and the Cliff Walk will be through the housing area. Building the apartments will start when the Boardwalk is complete but it will remain closed until the apartments are finished because of the danger when the building work is so close.

About 80 houses have now been sold and its good to see this moving towards completion.

More shingle and some rocks will be brought in over the Summer to protect the North Beach.

Cairn Homes applied for permission for 192 homes in Charlesland but originally did not commit to building the required Enterprise Units. I objected to this as jobs cannot be created in Greystones unless work units are built.

Only 16% of Greystones people work locally compared to 29% in Bray. Probably the greatest dependency on commuting of any town in Leinster and is unsustainable. Jobs are urgently required as we can’t all commute on the overcrowded N11 or DART. Yet all developers want is to build houses.

I am glad that Cairn have now changed and committed to 8,000 sq.m. of Enterprise Units in Phaze 3 before the final 200 houses are built in Phaze 4. This is to include 2,700 sq.m. of Community Units for start-ups. A decade ago I wrote a paper with the Chamber of Commerce showing the need for this and this was included in the site plan which is why it has been committed now.

A Primary School is to be built in Phaze 2 and a Secondary School, next to the sports facilities, in Phaze 5. A bus interchange is to be included in Phase 1 as required, this is needed if we are to have a good bus service. Cairn are currently selling houses on an adjacent site.

The Council has given them a valuable site specially constructed on the new pier and built a special slipway for them. It is incredible that after 12 years of discussions, planning and building the harbour they pull out. I gather that the problem is that the building is costly because the site will be subject to storm waves, however the Sailing, Angling, Diving, Rowing and Sea Scouts buildings have been constructed with this in mind.

They should put the boat on the calm marina and build a simpler less costly building. To my mind getting the boat going is much easier and safer from the marina than slip launching from the outer basin which can be rough in Easterly winds’ commented Cllr. Derek Mitchell.

The Council has been planning the Blacklion to Delgany Road since 1989 but it is a long way from completion. Also planned for many years are improvements to the junction at Redford Park to improve flow. An extra lane is needed at the traffic lights and insetting the bus stops to improve flow in the whole area.

Lidl have applied for permission to put a second storey on the store, retain the area where McDonald’s were going to build and to reduce the number of parking spaces.

The draft timetable showed trains taking 5.5 minutes extra time but they were not able to offer much hope on that. This meant that, to get to work in Dublin at 9 a Greystones person would have to get the 7.30 DART instead of the 8.00 at present. Also an Arklow person would have to get the 6.04 instead of the 7.00 at present.  They hoped to make minor adjustments so that commuters do not have to leave so much earlier.

‘I had also asked that an extra DART from Greystones and an extra diesel from Arklow would be provided but they claimed that this can’t be done because they are short of carriages and track capacity. We asked for a more frequent Saturday service but they were reluctant as they felt there was not demand for it. I don’t accept this and think they need to do more. ’

‘I feel that South of Greystones the rail track is empty and the N11 full and IR have no long term plan to improve the service South of Bray. I asked to meet a suitable person to discuss some ideas I have for longer term investment to improve it and they seemed to agree to that.

TO: NTA/Irish Rail.

Draft DART Timetable Changes

I am making this submission to express my concern about the DART timetable changes for the Greystones and the Wicklow rail service. The draft timetable for 2016 shows that while there are more trains to Bray, Greystones and South Wicklow get no extra trains and the time taken will be 12% longer. To get into work at 9 in Dublin people will have to leave on the 07.30 ex Greystones instead of the 08.00 now. This timetable will promote people getting off trains and using their cars on the already overcrowded N11.

The 12% is derived from the average of the increased time of the 7.30, 7.51 and 8.00 to Pearse which is 5.7 minutes. For something billed as an improvement this is terrible and we request a reinstatement of the current journey time. There does not seem to be a single extra train.

We are asking for:

·       The previous journey times

·       Another DART before 8.00 as there are 470 people boarding that train in Greystones. This can be sent down before peak hour and stay in the South siding as before.

·       Another peak hour diesel as the 7.51 is standing room from Wicklow Town.

·       The Saturday service to be increased to half hourly.

·       More 84x’s.

·       Work to remove the 20 mph speed limit at Glasthule as this delays trains.

·       The Arklow current 7:00 a.m. arrives in Connolly at 8:46 a.m. and the revised timetable shows it leaving Arklow at 7:05 a.m. and arriving in Connolly at 8:59 a.m. So if passengers had to be in work for 9:00, they would have to take the 6:04 a.m. train that arrives at 8:04 a.m.

I spoke to Barry Kenny, PR Irish Rail, on East Coast Radio, who suggested that my figures were selective and that the 0800 would take 4 minutes less when it is listed at 4 minutes more. The busiest trains, listed above, take +7, +6, +4 minutes an average of 5.7 minutes which is 12% extra time. My figures are both correct and representative.

I will send my submission to the 2035 Strategy, which was endorsed by Wicklow County Council, in a following entry, this suggests a way to increase capacity around Bray Head with a limited signalling and track investment.

I would welcome speaking to someone with correct knowledge about the situation.

Faitfully

Derek Mitchell