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.

Cllr Derek Mitchell (FG) said that for Greystones this will encourage early shopping and allow short term shopping. It should encourage more turnover of the spaces and be better for the shops. It was also decided not to charge for the large Park n’ Ride in Greystones.

It will be some months before this comes into force as the Council is going out to tender for the enforcement contract, though Bray will retain Council Traffic Wardens.

Lidl are required to provide land to inset the busy bus stop and to provide a left turn lane which will help traffic whenever built. No deliveries to or from the store are allowed at night (from 2200 to 0600 hours nor at school entry and leaving times (0800 to 930 and 1300 to 1530).

‘I objected to this because of the extra traffic at an already congested spot and feel it should wait until the Redford Park Junction and road to Delgany have been improved. The Council has been planning to do this road expansion since 1989 but has not finished it yet! We cannot keep expanding the town without the roads planned so long ago. I am disappointed Bord Pleanala have decided this development should go ahead without the infrastructure’.

Temple Carrig School and RGDATA also objected to the plan.

There is still a valid planning permission, for another 3 years, on the site for a fast food outlet which was intended to be a McDonalds even though the zoning was recently changed to prohibit this with the ‘no fry zone’ amendment. Some time ago Lidl issued a Press Release that they were not currently proceeding with that permission but it is still valid. A case for Judicial Review of the planning permission for the fast food outlet is due in court in May.

The population has massively expanded and there are now 4 large schools on the road. I have been pressing for a long time for this to be improved so that children can safely cycle and walk to school and for the Redford Park junction to be improved. This will also improve general traffic flow in the town.

While it will still take years for it to be built having the route selected means the process has started and is the first time the lack of roads is being taken seriously.

‘I am pleased that this is being done as erosion had washed away the South part of the beach while building up the North part so it is much wider than in the past’.

TII’s has:

1. Spent 3 years studying the M50/N11 traffic jams, since it agreed with Minister Varadakar to do this in 2013, but has not yet produced a report. This is very amateur as there should have been a timetable for producing the report.
2. Recently cancelled the LUAS going to Fassaroe, near Bray, which is to be the main growth centre for Wicklow.
3. Has a long term plan to replace direct diesel trains, South of Greystones, with unpopular shuttles.

In addition in Greystones the Council has planned a new road from Blacklion to Delgany for 30 years but has no money to build it even though the population has tripled. 

 This is a recipe for transport chaos. In August a Council delegation asked Minister for Transport Shane Ross to get TII to respond properly to this required growth but nothing has happened.

The busiest suburban station is Dun Laoghaire, with Blackrock 3rd and Malahide 4^th. The 4 Wicklow stations South of Greystones only have a few trains a day and have 378 daily users.

Apart from a commitment to improve the N11 and bring the LUAS to Central Bray the plan will cause major problems.

The plan to provide more DART’s to Greystones is very vague and a shuttle from there to South Wicklow even vaguer. The NTA explained that they intend to study this in more detail in 12 months. Cllr Derek Mitchell said ‘I have submitted a detailed plan to improve the DART but this was ignored and the suggestion that the direct diesels from Arklow could be replaced by a shuttle is not acceptable. A shuttle from Bray to Greystones was tried before and didn’t work. Instead the direct rush hour diesel should be increased from 4 to 8 carriages as people are standing from Wicklow Town and this could be supplemented by a shuttle’.

The NTA plan cancels the previously planned LUAS to Fassaroe where a major expansion was planned. The NTA plans a bus system and this threatens a major part of the County Development Plan and will place more cars on the overcrowded N11.

‘There also needs to be more emphasis on providing better busses, especially express services. I counted the number of rush hour passengers from Greystones and it came to more than the NTA was projecting for 2035 which seems strange. The plan should be called a Co. Dublin Plan rather than a greater Dublin Plan as it has largely ignored Wicklow and Meath’

Minister Simon Harris is hoping to arrange a delegation to meet the Minister for Transport to discuss these issues.