Every city has its icons, and its public transport often becomes one of them. New York has its subways, London has its Routemaster buses and Dublin has its DART. 23rd July 2024 makes 40 years since this quintessential part of Dublin began operation. It’s now unfathomable to imagine modern life in Dublin without it, whether it’s commuting to work or college, a night out on the town, or perhaps a Saturday trip to the beach, there’s no denying that the DART has wound its way into the everyday lives of Dublin’s citizens. For visitors, no trip to Dublin is complete with incorporating a trip on the DART into your tour. In this article, we’ll take a look at how the system has developed over the past 40 years, and what the future may hold.
The Origins of the DART
The story of the DART goes back a bit earlier, to the 1970s. It has its origins in reports prepared in the early 1970s culminating in the Dublin Rapid Rail Transit Study of 1975, which proposed a radical transformation of Dublin’s suburban rail system including the development of underground lines and connections to Blanchardstown and Tallaght. The electrification of Howth to Bray was intended as the first stage of this project and was approved by CIÉ in 1977, with government approval two years later. Unfortunately, the other elements were ultimately abandoned though some aspects would come to fruition under different projects in the decades to come.
Map of the proposed Dublin Rapid Rail Transit system as presented in 1975.
A Major Transformation Programme
While electrification is no doubt the most obvious change brought by the DART, it was by no means the only part of the project. A new signalling system was installed; at this point, much of the system was controlled by 1930s-era colour lights. The track also went under a major renewal programme (over 39km and involving 150 sets of points), with layouts being significantly changed in areas such as Connolly. The stations too were upgraded, with those at Salthill & Monkstown, Booterstown, and Sandymount being reopened. In addition, several substations had to be constructed on the system and the former railcar depot at Fairview was rebuilt to service electric trains. Naturally, extensive training had to be implemented for staff, the presence of Overhead Line Equipment (OHLE) being a major departure from what was there before.
Working instructions for electrified lines as issued by CIÉ in 1982.
Ireland's First Mainline Overhead-Electric Trains
40 two-car electric multiple unit (EMU) sets were ordered from Linke Hoffman Busch (LHB) in Germany, with the first cars being delivered to Dublin port in 1983, and were unlike anything seen on Irish railways at the time. Interestingly, their design spec includes underground operation, and indeed, are quite similar in appearance to units manufactured by LHB for the Berlin LHB had been the preferred manufacturer for a number of years prior, in fact, consideration was given to establishing a production unit at Inchicore Works in the late 1970s. U-Bahn system. The first mainline ‘overhead’ electric units in Ireland, they were a much-needed upgrade on the Dublin suburban trains of time, which principally consisted of rather dilapidated AEC railcars converted to push-pull operation with C-class diesel locomotives. Each set consists of a powered unit, numbered in the 81XX series, and an unpowered trailer, numbered 83XX series. For example, the first set is Nos.8101+8301 and the last set is Nos.8140+8340, etc.
July 23rd 1984—the Dawn of the DART
Inspector Ken Walsh and guard JJ Carthy at Connolly station during the early days of the DART. Photo: David Walsh Collection.
More or less a decade after the system was first mooted, the first official DART service departed Dublin's Pearse station for Howth on 23rd July 1984 at 06:35. Appropriately, it was worked by the first two sets, Nos. 81/8301 and 81/8302, with various dignatiaries and guests on board. The first service from Bray was worked by 81/8306+81/8307. Popularity was high from the get-go, and continued be so after the initial novelty had worn off. The marketing push for the new service was strong, with special promotional fares available offering unlimited travel at off peak times. Families living within a half-mile radius of stations were given a free Family ticket for use on the DART at weekends.
Notes from the early days suggest 4-car units were most common, with 2-cars in the off peak (imagine this now). It is worth noting that at the time of opening the full complement of 40 2-car sets had not been delivered, let alone entered service (only the first twenty-eight sets were in service on the opening date).
Into the 90s
And so the DART would carry on for the rest of the 80s and 90s without much change or fuss. A notable development was the opening of a new station at Clontarf Road, near Fairview Depot, in 1997, being the first addition to the system since opening. Bigger schemes were on the horizon, however, and 1995 saw the announcement of an extension to Greystones, which had lost its connecting shuttle to Bray in the early 1990s when the 80 class railcars used to provide this service were returned to Northern Ireland Railways. The ceremony itself involved the towing of an 8100 class set to Greystones behind a 181 class diesel locomotive, though it would be 1999 before they could reach the station under their own power.
DARTing into the New Millennium
The 2000s saw the DART extended along Bray Head to Greystones. Photo: David Walsh
This Greystones DART extension would eventually open in April 2000. This was followed by an extension at the northern end of the system from Howth Junction to Malahide in October of that year. With these extra services stretching the original 40 LHB sets to full capacity, an additional five 2-car sets, the 8200/8400 class, were ordered from Alstom in Spain, though these would not enter service until later in 2000. The Spanish sets followed the same numbering convention as the originals, 82XX being powered, 84XX being unpowered. These were shortly followed by four 4-car sets from Tokyu Car Japan, the 8500/8600 class, which were delivered August 2000 but did not actually enter survive until the following year. In this case, the set formation differed to the 2-car units, with the outermost vehicles being driving trailers numbered in the 86XX series, while the two intermediate cars are powered and numbered in the 85XX series. These were supplemented by three more sets, the 8510/8610 class, which entered service in April 2002, though these had some detail differences. The early 2000s also saw the addition of another new station to the DART network, with Grand Canal Dock opening in the Barrow Street area in January 2001. Initially, the 8200 class only operated within their own class, but on arrival of the 4-car sets they were commonly paired up with these, enabling more 6-car trains to be operated (bear in mind at this stage platform lengths constrained DART services to 6 vehicles).
Delivered in 2000, the 8600 class were the first 4-car DART units.
The start of the new millennium was not entirely joyous for the DART system, July 2001 a fire in Fairview Depot destroyed two of the original sets, Nos.81/8310 and 81/8336, with extensive damage sustained by some other sets and depot itself.
Earlier we mentioned how DART trains were limited to 6 carriages in length; to remedy this the DART & Suburban Enhancement—or DASH—project started in the autumn of 2003, initially focusing on southside stations and switching to the line of Pearse in July 2004. The end result of this was that all DART network stations could now handle 8-car trains, allowing full advantage to be taken of the 4-car sets, which could now run in pairs.
The final major wave of investment in the 2000s came in the form of the 10-strong 8520/8620 class 4-car sets. As with the other 4-car units, they were produced by Tokyu Car of Yokohama. These would enter service in September 2004, and one set was specifically to replace the two 2-car sets destroyed in the Fairview fire. As such, by 2004 there were 5 different classes of DART unit in operation on the network. For a period, the new sets could be seen operating in multiple with the original 8100 class 2-car units, making for an interesting contrast in styles. Ireland was by now very much in the middle of the ‘boom’ period, and demand for 8-car sets grew. For a time, even the original 8100 class sets could be seen operating in 8-car formation, previously restricted to 6.
20 years of design difference between the two, one of the original 1980s LHB DART sets is seen passing a 2000s-built Tokyu Car set at Dublin's Pearse Station, 30th April 2005. Photo: Niall Kelly.
As the new 8520s arrived, the original 8100 class sets, now well over 20 years in service, were sent on a well-deserved mid-life overhaul at Siemens in Germany and the Czech Republic, over the course of 2006-8, although some finishing work would be undertaken in Inchicore later on. Perhaps the most notable difference visually in the refurbished set is in the marker lights, which now protude from the front of the vehicle rather than the relatively flush appearance they had originally, along with the notable change from the old ''scroll" destination blinds to LED ones. The interior was also refurbished, and a new PIS (Passenger Information System) installed, along with upgrades to the wheel slide and traction equipment.
Through the Recession and Out Again, the DART Rides Resilient
The late 2000s brought with it the post-boom recession period and the DART system was affected in much the same way as the rest of Ireland was. Perhaps unthinkable now, but part of the cost-saving measures involved 2-car 8100 class sets operating in the off-peak period, something not seen on a regular basis since the early days of the DART. By this stage, the Spanish-built 8200 class sets had gradually dwindled out of service, proving to be less satisfactory than their German and Japanese fleetmates. It was not all gloom and doom, however, with an additional station, Clongriffin, opening in April 2010.
Now rarely seen, a 2-car DART sets is seen on railtour duties at Shankill, Co Dublin. Photo: David Walsh.
Nevertheless, the DART system battled on through the recession, with passengers climbing to all-time highs in the recovery period of the mid-2010s—anyone travelling on the system these days would wince at the thought of a mere 2-car set being put out. There’s no stopping a good thing, and Iarnród Éireann responded to this growth with the introduction of a 10-minute frequency increasing the service level like never before. The 2020s have not been without their challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic having an impact on the DART just as it did every other aspect of life and business.
The DART and Popular Culture
Having established itself as part and parcel of Dublin-life over the past four decades, it's inevitable that it would find its way into popular culture too. The examples are too many to list in full, but some that you might have come across are Roddy Doyle's Barrytown trilogy (both the novels and the film adaptions) and more recently the 2016 musical Sing Street. As its title might suggest, it also features in Ita Daly's 1989 children's novel, Candy on the DART.
Life begins at 40? The DART is about to expand like never before
A CGI impression of the new DART trains due to be delivered later this year.
The post-Covid period is one of hope, with the DART set for a more buoyant future than ever before. In its 40th year, new train sets are under construction, with the first due to be deliverd later this year. Planning work is underway for no less than three extensions to Maynooth, Drogheda, and Hazelhatch, along with a new depot at Kilcock. Branded the DART+ programme, this will see the network more than triple in length and finally realising the ambitions of an electrified network across Dublin first mooted back in the 1970s. For enthusiasts, the original 8100s continue to shuttle commuters along Dublin Bay just as they have done the past four decades, and while no doubt they are now entering the twilight period of their working lives, there is still time to enjoy these iconic units and their distinct sound.
An original 1980s LHB DART set at Howth in May 2024, these trains how now given loyal service for over 40 years.
It’s been some journey, and one that’s only getting better. Let’s toast this icon of Dublin while also looking forward to what the next 40 years will bring.
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