Dart to close at weekends for upgrading
Large sections of Dublin’s Dart suburban rail system are to be closed at weekends for the next 18 months, it was confirmed today.
Operators said the closures were necessary to allow upgrading work and will eventually increase passenger capacity by 30%.
Work on the south side line is set to begin on Saturday and will continue until June 2004.
Improvements on the north side and city centre lines will take a further nine months.
Rail spokesman Barry Kenny said there was no way of upgrading the network without affecting a large number of people.
He said Dublin Bus would be doubling the number of buses operating adjacent to the Dart on the south side for the initial stage.
Mr Kenny rejected claims passengers had only received four days’ notice about the disruptions.
He said: “We announced this work back in March when we had funding approval and obviously at that stage we were very clear that throughout the programme of works there would be closures of sections of the DART.”
He also rejected concerns the work could take longer than planned.
“By doing a full week’s work at the weekend that’s how we target it, that’s how we get it done quickly and efficiently,” he added.
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