Disconnected Dublin (DISSERTATION)

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disconnected dublin:

exploring the history of Architectural proposAls to link dublins rAilwAy stAtions

Hugo JAmes Hickey 10345459 Dissertation submitted for the degree of Master of Architecture [M.Arch] College of Engineering and Architecture UCD School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy University College Dublin - Ireland’s Global University January 2016



disconnected dublin:

exploring the history of architectural proposals to link dublins railway stations

<tAble of contents> LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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AbstrAct

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introduction

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chApter 1.0 - GeogrAphicAl setting And context for urbAn rAil development

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chApter 2.0 - impAct of regionAl rAil construction and infrAstructurAl develuopments on dublin city

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chApter 3.0 - intermodAl pAssenger connections 3.1

> dublin trAmwAys

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3.2

> roAd network

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3.3

> bus service

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Considered Architectural proposAls And urbAn strAtegies designed to resolve resulting disconnections And physicAlly link Dublin city's rAilwAy stAtions. chApter 4.0 - interconnection

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5.1 > 1838 - rAilwAy colonnade Along the quAys - chArles blAcker vignoles

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5.2 > 1877 - phoenix pArk tunnel - greAt southern & western

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5.3 > 1891 - loop line bridge - john chAloner smith & williAm h.mills

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5.4 > 1979 - liffey line - lAnce wright & kenneth browne

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5.5 > IN PROGRESS - dArt underground, LUAS, METRO NORTH

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chApter 4,0 - centrAlisation

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4.1 > 1872 - grAnd centrAl stAtion - frederick bArry

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4.2 > 1922 - union stAtion - pAtrick Abercrombie

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4.3 > 1975 - dublin trAnsportAtion centre - s.o.m.

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conclusion

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BIBLIOGRPAPHY

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AppendICES > EnlArged MAps And illustrAtions

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<LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS> FIGURE 1 - Map of railways in Dublin Area featuring locations mentioned in the text The Railways of Ireland, Past and Present: Dublin, 1997

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FIGURE 2 - Proposal for New Central Square & Railway Station, Dublin Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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FIGURE 3 - Transport map of Dublin showing tram, bus and rail routes O’Rourke, Horace T. . Civic Survey, and Ireland Civics Institute of. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 4 - Key map edited by author to show rail routes and stations in Dublin Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 5 - Key map edited by author to show of rail routes and stations in Dublin, with stations/legend superimposed Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 6 - Harness’ Population Map, 1837. Original scale: 1 inch to 10 miles Robinson, Arthur H.. 1955. “The 1837 Maps of Henry Drury Harness”.

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FIGURE 7 - Dublin regional context Dublin Transportation Centre. A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975.

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FIGURE 8 - Section of Harness’ Traffic Flow Map, 1837. Original scale: 1 inch to 10 miles Robinson, Arthur H.. 1955. “The 1837 Maps of Henry Drury Harness”.

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FIGURE 9 - Harness’ Passenger Conveyance Map, 1837. Original scale: 1 inch to 10 miles Robinson, Arthur H.. 1955. “The 1837 Maps of Henry Drury Harness”.

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FIGURE 10 - Evolution of the Irish Railway System Fisher, Charles A.. 1941. “Evolution of the Irish Railway System”. Economic Geography

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FIGURE 11 - The Dublin to Kingstown Railway line in 1837, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,“Map of the Environs of Dublin...”, 1937

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FIGURE 12 - Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 plan of Dublin, rail routes and stations highlighted by author Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 plan, Sheet 18 Dublin, 1849 Revision

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FIGURE 13 - Cubitt’s 1833 proposal for a Dublin to Kingstown ship canal Lyons, Garrett. Steaming to Kingstown and Sucking up to Dalkey..., 2015.

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FIGURE 14 - Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:12,000 plan of Dublin, rail routes and stations highlighted by author Ordnance Survey 1:12,000 plan, Sheet 18 Dublin, Revision showing future rail infrastructure

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FIGURE 15 - Dublin Railways diagram showing various railway company routes Society, Irish Railway Record. Volume 8. Irish Railway Record Society, 1967-69.

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FIGURE 16 - Transport map of Dublin showing tram, bus and rail routes O’Rourke, Horace T. . Civic Survey, and Ireland Civics Institute of. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 17 - Tram routes in central Dublin c.1915 superimposed on a modern map of the city Brady, Joseph E., and Anngret Simms. Dublin : Through Space and Time (C.900-1900), 2001

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FIGURE 18 - Proposal for New Transport Systems by Abercrombie, Kelly and Kelly, Dublin 1922 Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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FIGURE 19 - Dublin Bus: Route Network Diagram, 2009 http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/News-Centre/General-News-Archive/Route-Network-Diagram

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FIGURE 20 - Diagrams of Urban Street Systems by Eugene Henard, Reynolds, Maoiliosa. Dublin of the Future: A History of the City Plan. UCD, 1989.

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FIGURE 21 - Diagram of the development context for Abercrombie’s Dublin of the Future Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922.

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FIGURE 22 - Diagram of the proposed Central City Circulation System for Abercrombie’s Dublin of the Future Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922.

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FIGURE 23 - Map extract from ‘Central Dublin Traffic Plan’ by R. Travers Morgan & Partners 1973 A Future for Dublin. Architectural Review. London: Architectural Press, 1974.

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FIGURE 24 - Perspective sketch over photograph from ‘Central Dublin Traffic Plan’ by R. Travers Morgan & Partners 1973, A Future for Dublin. Architectural Review. London: Architectural Press, 1974.

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FIGURE 25 - Sketch from ‘Central Dublin Traffic Plan’ by R. Travers Morgan & Partners 1973 A Future for Dublin. Architectural Review. London: Architectural Press, 1974.

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FIGURE 26 - Map of central Dublin reproduced from Ordnance Survey Map Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922.

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FIGURE 27 - Highlighted areas on map indicate Abercrombie’s plan, using existing and proposed streets Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922.

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FIGURE 28 - Key map created by author to show railway routes and stations Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 29 - Diagram of Dublin City’s Railway Companies directly after the construction of the Phoenix Park Tunnel Society, Irish Railway Record. Volume 11. Irish Railway Record Society, 1973-75. (1925)

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FIGURE 30 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Railway Colonnade proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 31 - Outline plan of Dublin exhibiting proposed Railway Collonade through the city, route highlighted by author Printed by C.B. Vignoles to accompany the appendix of the Second Report of the Commissioners 1838.

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FIGURE 32 - Railway Colonnade Along the Quays of Dublin, perspective by Charles Blacker Vignoles Vignoles, Keith H. Charles Blacker Vignoles, Romantic Engineer. 1982.

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FIGURE 33 - Railway Colonnade Along the Quays of Dublin, perspective by Charles Blacker Vignoles Vignoles, Keith H. Charles Blacker Vignoles, Romantic Engineer. 1982.

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FIGURE 34 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Phoenix Park Tunnel proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 35 - Photograph showing interior condition of Phoenix Park Tunnel Robinson, Valerie. Irish News, “Underground Tunnel Holds No Joy for North’s Rail Travellers.” Aug 19, 2015

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FIGURE 36 - Photograph showing south entrance to tunnel via bridge over the river Liffey Murphy, William. “Dublin Streets Photographed by Infomatique.” Infomatique.org Aug 18, 2015

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FIGURE 37 - Elevation and Cross Section Drawings of Liffey Railway Bridge/Liffey Viaduct at Phoenix Park Tunnel Dublin City Council, www.BridgesofDublin.ie. “Liffey Viaduct: Design & Engineering.”

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FIGURE 38 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Loop Line Bridge proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 39 - Diagram of Dublin City’s Railways in 1905, showing various companies’ lines and Loop Line Bridge connection Society, Irish Railway Record. Volume 12. Irish Railway Record Society, 1975-76.

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FIGURE 40 - A steam train negotiates its way across the Loop Line Bridge from Connolly Station Pickup, B. “RPSI Photo Gallery.” Railway Preservation Society of Ireland.

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FIGURE 41 - “Loop Line Bridge - Aerial View 2010.”, Bridges of Dublin, Dublin City Council, Dublin.

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FIGURE 42 - View looking north of Liberty Hall from beneath the Loop Line Bridge Clancy, Tom. Liberty Hall and the Loop Line Bridge. 2012. Dublin City

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FIGURE 43 - Elevation and Cross Section Drawings of Loop Line Bridge Dublin City Council, www.BridgesofDublin.ie. “Loop Line Bridge: Design & Engineering.”

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FIGURE 44 - Butt Bridge and the Loopline Rail Bridge Dublin. 1910. Joe Williams Postcard Collection, South County Dublin Library, Dublin.

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FIGURE 45 - Postcard of The Custom House and Loopline Bridge Looking West. Hickey, Oliver. Circa 1890. Custom House Postcards, Dublin City Council, Dublin.

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FIGURE 46 - “The Dublin Connecting Railway”, Perspective by Smith & Mills showing proposed Loop Line Bridge “1891 - Loop Line Bridge Dublin.” Archiseek. Accessed November 22, 2015

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FIGURE 47 - Areas not served by rail or the new Liffey Line underground are supplied with radial express bus routes A Future for Dublin. Architectural Review. London: Architectural Press, 1974.

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FIGURE 48 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Liffey Line proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 49 - “The Liffey Line”, An underground line linking Pearse with Heuston via a tunnel under the south quays A Future for Dublin. Architectural Review. London: Architectural Press, 1974.

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FIGURE 50 - 2005 – Aer Lingus Headquarters, Dublin Airport. A prospective underground station is included in the scheme Architects, Henry J. Lyons. “Aer Lingus Headquarters, Dublin Airport, Dublin.” 2005.

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FIGURE 51 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and recent/modern proposals Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 52 - Visualisation of DART Underground tunnel, 2014 O’Brien, Carl. “225m Spent on Shelved Dublin Transport Projects ” The Irish Times, 3rd January 2014

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FIGURE 53 - Visualisation of DART Underground station, 2014 O’Brien, Carl. “225m Spent on Shelved Dublin Transport Projects ” The Irish Times, 3rd January 2014

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FIGURE 54 - Visualisation of Metro North station, 2014 Architects, HKR. “Metro North, Dublin.” http://www.hkrarchitects.com/project/metro-north-dublin/

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FIGURE 55 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and recent/modern proposals Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 56 - Extract from “Dublin Economic Core Area Rail Map” by the All-Ireland Research Observatory “Dublin Economic Core Area Rail.” Map. In AIRO. All-Ireland Research Observatory.

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FIGURE 57 - New Metro North planned route, the high-speed rail link from Dublin city centre to Dublin Airport and Swords Kelly, Olivia. “Metro North Projected to Start Running in 12 Years’ Time.” The Irish Times, Sept. 29th 2015

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FIGURE 58 - Proposal for New Central Square & Railway Station, Dublin, Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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FIGURE 59 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Central Station proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 60 - “Selection and Appraisal of Alternative Underground Alignments” - Core Tunnel Option WS Atkins International Ltd., and Ireland. Dublin LRT Study, 1998.

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FIGURE 61 - “Selection and Appraisal of Alternative Underground Alignments” - Unified Proposal WS Atkins International Ltd., and Ireland. Dublin LRT Study, 1998.

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FIGURE 62 - A metro which includes a circle line linking Dublin’s transport hubs McDonald, Frank. The Construction of Dublin. Oysterhaven, Kinsale: Gandon, 2000

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FIGURE 63 - Proposal for New Central Square & Railway Station, Dublin Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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FIGURE 64 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Frederick Barry Central Station proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 65 - Perspective of New Central Square & Railway Station, Dublin Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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FIGURE 66 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Frederick Barry Central Station proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 67 - Proposal for New Central Square & Railway Station, Dublin Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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FIGURE 68 - Survey map overlayed with Abercrombie’s New Town Plan, station highlighted by author Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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FIGURE 69 - Map of Abercrombie’s Central Station at the heart of his proposed traffic system and new road network Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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FIGURE 70 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Transportation Centre proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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FIGURE 71 - Development Site and Proposed Rapid Transit System Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975 <58> FIGURE 72 - Model photograph of proposed scheme Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975 <59> FIGURE 73 - Model photograph of proposed scheme Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975 <59> FIGURE 74 - Site Plan Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975 <59> FIGURE 75 - Massing Alternatives for Transportation Centre Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975 <60> FIGURE 76 - Terminal Access Configurations Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975 <60> FIGURE 77 - Building Use and Planning Module drawings of the Transportation Centre Proposal Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975 <61> FIGURE 78 - Long and Short Section drawings of the Transportation Centre Proposal Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975 <62> FIGURE 79 - The damaged areas in the neighbourhood of O’Connell Street after the Rising and Civil War Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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<Acknowledgements> I would like to thank my dissertation tutor Merlo Kelly for her advice, insights and great patience in the preparation of this document. Her help was invaluable. I would also like to thank my grandfather, Randal McDonnell, for convincingly conveying a spirit of imagination in regard to Dublin and its architecture. Without his guidance this dissertation would not have been possible. Cathal O’Neill, Gerry Cahill and Loughlin Kealy have been inspiring in their teaching and lectures throughout this project. I thank John Clancy (former Senior Architect with CIE) for his generosity and time as a primary source of information, and also Norman Gamble (Archivist at the Irish Railway Record Society), whose knowledge contributed greatly to my understanding of this subject. I would like to express my appreciation to the ever-patient staff of UCD Richview library, and of course to Wendy Barrett for her encyclopedic knowledge and help with the process of research.


FIGURE 1 - Map of railways in Dublin Area featuring locations mentioned in the text The Railways of Ireland, Past and Present: Dublin, 1997

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disconnected dublin:

exploring the history of Architectural proposAls to link dublin's rAilway stAtions

<AbstrAct> Access and transportation are intrinsic to the function of a large capital like Dublin and should be at the forefront of any discussion on development. In the context of the present debate about transport and in order to reimagine how the inner city might operate and develop in the coming years, it is first necessary to study its core. Dublin City comprises two mass networks divided by a body of water, the river Liffey. This places the centre of the city in this urban valley between north and south. Unlike the vast majority of modern cities and historical urban developments alike, the centre of the capital does not take the form of a building, monument, or place of assembly. It could be argued that the city lacks a tangible point of focus and instead, the space in between north and south seems to play the part of an indeterminate city centre. While Dublin typifies an old European city, with the characteristic sprawl and organic growth along a spinal river that is not unlike London or Rome, much of the city’s modern infrastructure conforms to a radial connection system. In terms of urban rail transit, the inability to pin-point an urban core within a system like this causes a number of issues, but crucially it acts as the primary obstacle to radial connection by way of a central station. Typically, when a city operates from a network of urban rail termini instead (Paris for example), the stations are linked with one another to provide passenger connections between several points of convergence. Dublin city’s assemblage of railway stations lacks integration at this level. This dissertation intends to review the history of proposals to connect these railway stations.


FIGURE 2 - Proposal for New Central Square & Railway Station, Dublin Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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disconnected dublin:

exploring the history of Architectural proposAls to link dublin's rAilway stAtions

<introduction> This dissertation explores the history of architectural proposals to link Dublin city’s main railway stations. The first railway in the city, opened in 1834, was the Dublin (specifically Westland Row Station) link with Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire). The route was built with state-of-the-art technology and is arguably the first metropolitan rail line in the world. The most recent rail-link proposal involves an underground line to connect the north and south sides of the city. This and other schemes have been allowed lapse and, as of last year, this project has again been shelved for the foreseeable future. Interestingly, over a century ago, the prescient Sir Patrick Abercrombie had proposed such an underground rail link. In 1914, when Sir Patrick suggested the removal of the controversial Loop Line rail bridge to make way for his alternative underground proposal, it met with similar inertia. More than one hundred years later, the same idea holds validity, yet fails to be implemented. It raises the question, why? The central hypothesis of my dissertation is that by studying the pattern of proposals that sought to link Dublin city’s disconnected rail termini, and their subsequent adoption or not, may help to define what the likely criteria might be for successful outcomes. It was just before the dawn of the Victorian age that the silting up of Dublin Port necessitated the development of Kingstown Harbour for larger vessels to use. This development sparked the requirement for a rail link from suburban harbour to city centre. This demonstrates the impact of geographical setting as a context for urban rail development, explored in Chapter 1. The route structure of Dublin’s metropolitan and regional railway system was generated by the early involvement of the country’s first railway companies, with various but disconnected radial routes stemming from the outskirts of an older Dublin city boundary. The origins of these lines are Dublin’s main railway stations, where tracks begin to trace outward routes to destinations such as Belfast, Galway, Cork and Waterford. In Chapter 2, the effect of early rail construction on the shaping of Dublin as a nationwide hub for rail transport will be examined. Chapter 3 will deal largely with the infrastructural but non-architectural attempts at transport integration in the capital. In this chapter, the focus is on how other transit systems such as tramlines, bus services and road networks have influenced Dublin’s metropolitan transport and the various intermodal connections between the city’s main railway termini. Chapter 4 investigates a history of architectural proposals for central stations and how they proposed connecting the region’s transit lines, acting as hubs for a radial transport system. In Chapter 5, the history of proposals to interconnect the capital’s various train termini without the use of a central station, and allowing for multiple points of convergence, is explored.


FIGURE 3 - Transport map of Dublin showing tram, bus and rail routes.

FIGURE 4 - Key map edited by author to show rail routes and stations in Dublin.

FIGURE 5 - Key map edited by author to show of rail routes and stations in Dublin, with stations/legend superimposed. Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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<chApter 1>

GeogrAphical setting And context for urbAn rAil development The City of Dublin lies at the juncture of the the northernmost penetration of the Dublin Mountains and the western coast of the Irish Sea. As the centre for convergence of the radiating roadway system which extends out into the lowlands and as the only significant port between Cork and Belfast, Dublin has long been a vital link between the interior of the country and the sea lanes to Great Britain and Europe (see Figure 8). Its sheltered sea port and extensive inland waterways made for an historically strategic base and place of trade. Lying at the mouth of the River Liffey, the capital is strongly tied to the history of the river and its submission to human processes. These processes began with the bridging of the river at its narrowest point near the present city centre. The subsequent reclamation of land at the river’s banks during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when the Liffey was straightened and channelled within the quays, established the urban form that is evident today. As the site of Dublin’s major docks, the Liffey can be navigated by ocean-going vessels inland to the Custom House. With the construction of the Talbot Memorial Bridge in 1978, the quay closed permanently to commercial vessels, including barge traffic1. The docks have now become a sort of ‘Central Business District’, providing a key location for large international corporations and European headquarters. In addition to the Liffey are the Tolka River to the north and the Dodder river to the south, both of which flow into Dublin Harbour east of the Custom House. The Grand and Royal canals (also no longer used for commercial purposes) trace the oval configuration of the inner city. Both canals join the Liffey east of the Custom House. The spatial planning of the city appears quite irregular and varied – but it does have a rhythmic logic. For the most part, Dublin’s streets form a consistent whole in terms of height, setback from road, maturity of vegetation and the use of similar materials. The character of the city is sometimes violated by relatively new developments, but it is nonetheless, enduring. The River Liffey, Dublin’s central axis and most outstanding urban design element, is channelled and its banks are parallel, yet it meanders through the city (Refer to Figure 7 opposite).The Grand and Royal Canals, which demarcate the central city and give it shape, create an elliptical form which opens at the northwest quadrant to the suburbs at Phoenix Park. Dublin’s neighbourhoods, most of which are built around commercial main streets, form small areas of increased density at their centres and gradually spread further apart with an increase in distance from the city centre. Dublin’s skyline is fragile at best, and in constant danger of being overpowered. The steeples, spires, towers, chimneys and obelisks which penetrate the sky are signposts of distance and touchstones of visual orientation. Geometric patches of green in the midst of irregular streets are another defining element of the unique texture of Dublin, which substantially derives from the quality, variety, detail and human scale of the city’s buildings and the characteristics of its streetscape, which provide those unexpected surprises that create so pleasing a pedestrian environment. There are, of course, intrusive structures; the out-of scale, outof-proportion textureless masses that fail to respond to the overall grain of the city, but these are, fortunately, still few in number. In spite of the expansion of building space brought on by land reclamation, new construction (with the simultaneous growth of access needs) and the large increase in vehicular ownership and traffic levels, the street network in the city remains substantially that of a past era.

1

De Courcy, John W.The Liffey in Dublin. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1996.


FIGURE 6 - ABOVE - Harness’ Population Map, 1837. Original scale: 1 inch to 10 miles Robinson, Arthur H.. 1955. “The 1837 Maps of Henry Drury Harness”. FIGURE 7 - below - Dublin regional context Dublin Transportation Centre. A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975.

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FIGURE 8 - Section of Harness’ Traffic Flow Map, 1837. Original scale: 1 inch to 10 miles Robinson, Arthur H.. 1955. “The 1837 Maps of Henry Drury Harness”.


FIGURE 9 - Harness’ Passenger Conveyance Map, 1837. Original scale: 1 inch to 10 miles Robinson, Arthur H.. 1955. “The 1837 Maps of Henry Drury Harness”.

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FIGURE 10 - Evolution of the Irish Railway System, with original captions Fisher, Charles A.. 1941. “Evolution of the Irish Railway System”. Economic Geography


FIGURE 11 - The Dublin to Kingstown Railway line in 1837, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, “Map of the Environs of Dublin...”, 1937 16


<chApter 2> impAct of regionAl rAil construction and infrAstructurAl developments on dublin city Despite the sprawling nature of the old city’s fabric, much of Dublin’s modern infrastructure conforms to a structured and planned radial connection system. A radial route is a public transport route linking a central point in a city or town, usually in the central business district (CBD), with a suburb (or satellite) of that city or town2. Such a route can be operated by various forms of public transport, and in the case of Dublin city, the most influential of radial systems manifests itself in the modern road and rail networks. To the end of the eighteenth century, transport in the capital was primitive. By the end of the 19th century, however, the retro-fitting of a transport matrix on the urban fabric tested the intimacy of Georgian Dublin. When the nineteenth century saw the coming of the railways, J.R. Kellett argued that “the Victorian railway was the most important single agency in the tranformation of the central area of many of Britain’s major cities.”3 This was because the railway could function only by occupying large tracts of land and so altered the internal geography of many cities, changing their focus and the orientation of their transport routes. Kellett suggests that by 1900 between 5 and 8 percent of land in the centre of major British cities was occupied by the railways. This was also the case in Dublin. It was a large and obtrusive land use and once located it often acted as a barrier to future development. Land which was cut off from the remainder of the city by railway yards were often neglected by developers. Major ring roads and radial highways had a similar effect. In The Death and Life of Great American Cities published in 1961, Jacobs refers to railroads as classic examples of ‘social borders’ and talks about ‘border vacuums’, where these corridors instantly create a hierarchy between one side and the other, a condition which she claims ‘precedes decay’4, hence the excpression “born on the wrong side of the tracks”. Despite the development of rail corridors, and contrary to Jacobs’ argument, small clusters of development did occur in and around these zones from the late nineteenth century onwards. Although much of the development was industry based, small housing developments also emerged. It was observed that well-planned crossings, bridges and underground passages ultimately worked to overcome the ‘social border’ effect. Residential and commercial developments planned along these lines were generally most successful at the railway station locations, whereas the areas bordering the line itself usually suffered as a result of the tracks, becoming buffer zones or barriers. Originally a canal had been planned to provide a connection from Dublin to the newly-constructed Kingstown Harbour (now Dun Laoghaire). The silting up of Dublin port meant that larger vessels could not use it, and now docked at Kingstown instead. According to a Catalogue of Parliamentary Reports dated August 15th 1834, there was a report from a ‘Select Committee’ on constructing a ship canal between Dublin Port and Kingstown Harbour. The report claims that such an undertaking would make the port of Dublin the “best in Europe”5. As Kingstown grew in importance, the question of a connection with Dublin was further discussed6. However, the age of the railway had begun and, in 1825, a petition was made to the House of Commons proposing a railway in place of a canal.7 Ultimately, lobbying merchants from the Port made the case for a railroad, citing recently successful projects in Britain and technological improvements in rail, that would make for better efficiency than a new waterway. This was the first railway in Dublin, opened in 1834, 2 Wikipedia contributors, “Radial route,”Wikipedia,The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radial_ route&oldid=546413770 (accessed December 15, 2015). 3, 6, 7 Brady, Joseph E., and Anngret Simms. Dublin :Through Space and Time (C.900-1900).The Making of Dublin City. Dublin: Four Courts, 2001. 4 Jacobs, Jane.The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, 1961 5 Catalogue of Parliamentary Reports, and a Breviate of their Contents: Arranged under Heads according to the Subjects, 1696 1804. 15 August 1834, 144. 7 Barry, Michael. “Transport in 19th Century Dublin.”The Irish Story. March 6, 2014. Accessed December 15, 2015. http://www. theirishstory.com/2014/03/06/transport-in-19th-century-dublin/#.Vm_0fxEwekQ.


just before the dawn of the Victorian age.

FIGURE 12 - Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 plan of Dublin, rail routes and stations highlighted by author. Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 plan, Sheet 18 Dublin, 1849 Revision

FIGURE 13 - Cubitt’s 1833 proposal for a Dublin to Kingstown ship canal Lyons, Garrett. Steaming to Kingstown and Sucking up to Dalkey..., 2015.

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The Dublin (Westland Row Station) to Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) line was the first suburban railway in the world.8 Because it was the first time a central point in a city or town was connected to a suburb of that same city or town, it could be argued that this was also the first ever example of a metropolitan commuter rail line and the beginning of a radial system of urban rail in Dublin city. In some ways, Kingstown became the first of Dublin’s satellite towns. Development of such towns and their radial connection to Dublin city became the predominant model for the expansion of Dublin ever since. It could also be argued that this urban planning concept, applied to Dublin in the wake of its radial connection with Kingstown, ultimately sprang from the construction of this metropolitan rail line. In many ways, rail began to shape the city. The growth of a number of townships and villages along the coast as far south as Dalkey and Killiney came about as a result of the new Dublin to Kingstown line. The railway offered the possibility of true suburban living in picturesque locations and many fine villas were built. The land became valuable, and the railway fares became more expensive. However Kingstown lacked a development plan, Thackeray described it as “a town irregularly built with many handsome terraces, some churches and showy-looking hotels”. There were other developments along the railway line such as Monkstown and Blackrock. Blackrock was an old fishing village that had initially suffered during the construction of the railway line to Kingstown and, like Kingstown, it contained both a labouring population and a high-class population who inhabited houses close to the seafront. The rich and poor populations were segregated along the railway line and a dynamic patchwork of social areas emerged.9 The development of rail in the capital seems to have come at the right time. The decentralisation or suburbanisation of Dublin was inevitable given the awful conditions of inner city Dublin and its tenement housing. The Housing Inquiry of 1913 was a damning indictment of inaction and complacency on the matter of accommodation in the city. The move to the suburbs was not an easy path, and was resisted largely on the basis of the transport burden placed on those who were to be displaced or relocated. However, the compact city was soon to spread outwards and grow as it had never grown before. As people moved, so did business and industry. The process of establishing alternative urban cores to the city centre was well established by the time the first shopping centre was opened in Stillorgan in 196610. The introduction of more and more railway lines caused the same problem for Dublin as in other cities. The railways need central locations if they are to serve the city and its population. They also need large tracts of land, not only for the stations but for peripheral works such as maintenance, marshalling yards, storage and a host of other needs. The track often had to cut through an already developed area and this was commonly contentious and expensive. The result in Dublin was that locations peripheral to the centre were chosen for the railway termini and circuitous trackways were laid. Thus the Great Northern Railway (GNR) to the north-east of Ireland had its terminus at Amiens Street (now Connolly Station), the Great Southern and Western Railway (GSWR) to the west terminated at Kingsbridge (now Heuston Station) while the Midland Great Western Railway (MGWR) to the north was located at Broadstone Station (currently not in use for rail, and now a Dublin Bus depot and headquarters for Bus Eireann). The Dublin Wicklow and Wexford Railway (DWWR) to the south and south-east had more discrete termini at Harcourt Street and Westland Row (now Pearse Station), the two lines joining beyond Shankill. The 1849 revision of the first edition Ordnance Survey 6” sheet for Dublin (1:10560, Sheet 18) shows the location for these termini quite clearly. The Dublin and Wicklow Railway, the western spur of the DWWR, was arguably the most successful at navigating the fabric of the city and managed to do so with a relatively direct route. The Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the other component of the DWWR, managed to achieve a central location by taking a circuitous route and thus avoided cutting into the expensive housing that blocked its way.11 The other three termini are quite clearly peripheral at this time (See Figure 15). The system was far from ideal with no connections between the stations. This problem was recognised at an early stage and proposals were made as early as 1861 to link the various termini.

7, 8 Brady, Joseph E., and Anngret Simms. Dublin :Through Space and Time (C.900-1900).The Making of Dublin City. Dublin: Four Courts, 2001. 10 McDonald, Frank.The Construction of Dublin. Dublin: Gandon Editions, 2000, 229.


FIGURE 14 - Extract from the Ordnance Survey 1:12,000 plan of Dublin, rail routes and stations highlighted by author Ordnance Survey 1:12,000 plan, Sheet 18 Dublin, Revision showing future rail infrastructure*

FIGURE 15 - Dublin Railways diagram showing various railway company routes Society, Irish Railway Record. Volume 8. Irish Railway Record Society, 1967-69.

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<chapter 3> intermodAl pAssenger connections <dublin trAmwAys> The tram concept arrived in Ireland in the early years of railway development, and the first related projects concerned attempts to link the major city train stations with a light railway. Dublin’s first tramways were laid in 1871 and began operation in 1872. The first Dublin trams were horse drawn, but by 1893 the Imperial Tramways Company had managed to secure an Act of Parliament allowing them to use electrical and mechanical power on the city’s streets12. Initially, ownership of the tramways lay with a number of operators; - Dublin Tramways Company / DTC (1871) - The North Dublin Street Tramways Company / NDST (1875) - The Dublin Central Tramways Company / DCT (1878) - The Dublin Southern Districts Tramways Company / DSDTC (1878) - The Blackrock and Kingstown Tramway / BKT (1883)13 By 1911 the branches had been consolidated into one Dublin United Tramways Company (DUTC). The system comprised more than 330 trams over 66 miles of track. At its peak the network was internationally renowned for technical innovation, and was described in 1904 as “one of the most impressive in the world”. It was so modern that representatives from around the world would come to inspect it and its electric operation. The tram network in the city played a vital role in that it connected the capital’s five main railway stations for the first time in history, and did so relatively efficiently. As the nineteenth century came to a close, a substantial transport infrastructure was in place in Dublin City. An improved port was connected to the railway network, which radiated across the island. The railways were soon to reach their apex, followed soon after by their rapid contraction, which occurred in the mid-twentieth century. Within the city itself though, citizens enjoyed easy and rapid access to the new suburbs of the late-Victorian city, travelling on electric trams or suburban railways. The rise of the internal combustion engine and the decline of the trams came in the twentieth century and led to gridlock on the city streets. Due to the increasing levels of congestion as the years went on, bus services between the central stations were rendered inefficient and ineffective. With the tram lines removed, and the introduction of traffic jams to the inner city, the already sinuous passenger connections between the railway termini vanished.

12 Dublin,The Irish Times, 5 May 1893, page 6, “The Dublin Southern Tramways Bill” 13 Stewart, D. ‘Dublin city passenger transport services’. - Dublin: Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland,Vol. XXIX, Part III, 1954/1955, pp136-158


FIGURE 16 - Transport map of Dublin showing tram, bus and rail routes O’Rourke, Horace T. . Civic Survey, and Ireland Civics Institute of. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

FIGURE 17 - Tram routes in central Dublin c.1915 superimposed on a modern map of the city Brady, Joseph E., and Anngret Simms. Dublin : Through Space and Time (C.900-1900), 2001

22


intermodAl pAssenger connections <bus service> Buses slowly replaced trams as the primary means of mass metropolitan transport in the city between World War 1 and World War II. With a dramatic increase in the population of the greater Dublin area during this time, and the simultaneous outward growth of the suburbs, the population quite obviously required a substantial increase in transport facilities, which had been met in two ways; firstly, with an increase in the number of public service vehicles and the services provided by the transport undertaking; and secondly by the increased use of the private car. The tramways could not keep up with the flexible efficiency of the bus fleets (some of which were actually operated by the Dublin Tramways Company). A quote from the Royal Commission Report on Transport, 1930 : “ After carefully examining the evidence which we have received from various witnesses, our considered view is that Tramways, if not an obsolete form of transport, are at all events in a state of obsolescence and cause much unnecessary congestion and considerable unnecessary danger to the public. We recommend, therefore, (a) that no additional tramways should be constructed, and (b) that, though no definite time limit can be laid down, they should gradually disappear and give place to other forms of transport. “ We are of opinion that it will be to the advantage of the inhabitants of the towns where they exist to get rid of them by degrees, and to substitute trackless trolley vehicles or motor omnibuses, as some authorities have done already.”14

14 Stewart, D. ‘Dublin city passenger transport services’. - Dublin: Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland,Vol. XXIX, Part III, 1954/1955, pp136-158


FIGURE 18 - Proposal for New Transport Systems by Abercrombie, Kelly and Kelly, Dublin 1922 Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922 FIGURE 19 - Dublin Bus: Route Network Diagram, 2009 http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/News-Centre/General-News-Archive/Route-Network-Diagram

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Please note that Xpresso and Nitelink services are not included on this diagram.

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7b Shankill 184 Bray Greystones Kilcoole

84 Newcastle Co. Wicklow

Léaráid Gréasán agus stadanna lár na cathrach

Finding your stop Ag aimsiú do stad bus

7

Once you have found your destination in the index overleaf you can locate the relevant city centre stops on the city centre map above and the relevant bus routes on the diagram to the left. Nuair a aimsíonn tú do cheann scríbe ar an innéacs lastall is féidir leat stadanna ábhartha lár na cathrach a aimsiú ar léarscáil lár na cathrach thuas agus na bealaí bus ábhartha a aimsiú ar an léarscáil ar chlé.

24 8


intermodAl pAssenger connections <roAd network> In terms of the road network, most of the late Georgian streets of Dublin are much wider than corresponding streets elsewhere. This is partly due to the work of the Wide Streets Commissioners (established 1757). Even so, Dublin streets, like any streets designed prior to c.1900 were really only designed for traffic moving at 10mph. 15Various traffic experts have been called in during the last century, tasked with the widening and straightening of the most constricted streets and improvement of their sight lines to allow for faster speeds. Two such experts were Travers Morgan & Partners and Dr Schaechterle. The former suggested a high-level crossing of the Liffey by a north/south motorway in the neighbourhood of the cathedrals.The latter proposed to run a motorway over the Grand Canal. As is always the case, these great gashes in the city are represented as the be-all-and-end-all: the final demand the car would make on the city’s fabric, but it would not be this. For having made it so easy for cars to come so close in to the city centre, more would do so. Impatience would mount against the other impediments to movement caused by the city’s fabric; and these too would have to be removed.

FIGURE 20 - Diagrams of Urban Street Systems by Eugene Henard, Reynolds, Maoiliosa. Dublin of the Future: A History of the City Plan. UCD, 1989.

FIGURE 21 - Diagram of the development context for Abercrombie’s Dublin of the Future Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922. 15

Wright, Lance, and Kenneth Browne. A Future for Dublin. London: Architectural Press, 1975.


FIGURE 23 - Map extract from ‘Central Dublin Traffic Plan’ by R. Travers Morgan & Partners 1973

FIGURE 24 - Perspective sketch over photograph from ‘Central Dublin Traffic Plan’ by R. Travers Morgan & Partners 1973 FIGURE 25 - Sketch from ‘Central Dublin Traffic Plan’ by R. Travers Morgan & Partners 1973 A Future for Dublin. Architectural Review. London: Architectural Press, 1974

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FIGURE 26 - Map of central Dublin reproduced from Ordnance Survey Map Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922.


FIGURE 27 - Highlighted areas on map indicate Abercrombie’s plan, using existing and proposed streets Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922.

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<chApter 4> Considered ArchitecturAl proposAls And urbAn strAtegies designed to resolve resulting disconnections And physicAlly link Dublin city's rAilway stAtions.

<interconnection> Between 1967 and 1968 K.A. Murray of the Irish Railway Record Society briefly wrote about the history of proposed connections between Dublin city railway stations in one of the Society’s Journals. He rightly claimed that “It would be impossible to mention even a small proportion of these schemes, even if they were all pertinent to the present paper”, however he did attempt to categorise the previous attempts to link Dublin’s termini. “They fall into three categories”, he writes, firstly;“those which proposed passing through the city, by either elevated or underground lines, with or without a large central station in a good position”, secondly; “lines which sought to make their way around the outskirts” and lastly; “a few schemes which proposed connecting the Kingstown line with the Drogheda line and other routes by a South-North railway”. It would seem that Murray’s identification of proposals to connect the Kingstown and Drogheda lines could in fact be considered proposals to pass lines through the city (given the central location of the main stations on those lines) whether they be elevated or below grade, and so his first and last categories can be consolidated. For the purposes of this dissertation, proposals have been divided into two groups; ‘Interconnection’ and ‘Centralisation’. ‘Interconnection’ deals with what Murray stated were “lines which sought to make their way around the outskirts” - i.e. lines which linked existing stations by means of interconnection. For reasons of clarity, I have included in this chapter proposals which are “without a large central station”, as these projects make use of existing railway stations. Interconnection, in the context of this dissertation, refers to proposals which are designed to mutually connect two (or more) of Dublin’s main railway stations by way of a radial line and/or through route. Interconnecting projects, in this sense, excludes proposals which seek to centrally link termini by construction of a central station. According to the PPIAF (Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility) “it is inappropriate for all routes to converge at a single focal point” in a city where the population exceeds 1 million or more as the “central area will normally cover a large area so that passengers’ destinations are widely dispersed”16. When the distances between station and destination exceed acceptable walking distances it may make more sense for there to be several points of convergence, each constituting the focus of a number of radial routes. Interconnection in this sense, is the linking of two or more of these points of convergence. Many more proposals to interconnect the city’s stations have been made than those within this chapter. The selection of a reduced number of projects is based on two criteria: (1) they are fully developed proposals (2) they are otherwise significant. A large number of schemes designed to reciporacally link railway stations in the capital sprung from much larger projects. Whether these undertakings were for new central stations, port and docks improvements, mail delivery or the military, rail inter-connections across the city have been vital. Many of the schemes over the years dealing with interconnection in Dublin were scaled down versions of much larger public works projects which were never offered full compensation for their proposed cost, and had to be effieciently redesigned using existing infrastructure, and in this case, existing train stations.

16 “Factors Influencing Bus System Efficiency.” PPIAF - Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility. 2006. Accessed January 12, 2016. http://www.ppiaf.org/sites/ppiaf.org/files/documents/toolkits/UrbanBusToolkit/assets/1/1d/1d4.html.


FIGURE 28 - Key map created by author to show railway routes and stations Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

FIGURE 29 - Diagram of Dublin City’s Railway Companies directly after the construction of the Phoenix Park Tunnel Society, Irish Railway Record. Volume 11. Irish Railway Record Society, 1973-75.

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1838 - rAilwAy colonnAde on the quAys <chArles blAcker vignoles> Large measures for public control in the future development of railways in Ireland were first published in the Royal Commission on Irish Railways (Estd.1836) report on the 13th July, 1838. Four years after Ireland’s first railway, recommendations followed that referenced the recent action of the French government in projecting a system of main lines. This approach constrasted with that in England, where main communications were committed to the “almost unconditional and uncontrolled direction of individuals”. The report also pointed to the economic and employment benefits which would arise from the development of such public works. Improved communications and transport would boost the country’s resources and contribute to a more connected country. Charles Blacker Vignoles was an influential British/Irish railway engineer, born in Wexford on the 31st May 1793. The son of a military man, lost to yellow fever while fighting the French in Guadeloupe, Vignoles was brought up in England. Working there as a surveyor in the 1820s, he eventually moved onto much larger projects which led him back to Ireland, where he is remembered for his work with the Dublin to Kingstown Railway, and for his work during the period 1836 to 1838, when he served as engineer to the royal commission on railways in Ireland. Most of the railways surveyed and planned during this time were completed by William Dargan, but some of the proposals were not followed up, as they were too ambitious for Ireland at the time. 1n 1838, Vignoles conceived of a scheme that was to link railway termini through the city via a raised track along the southern Liffey Quays. This design came as part of his grander plans to link London with New York, via a railway shortcut across the island of Ireland. With an eye to preserving the architectural quality of the city he proposed to carry the railway, not on brick arches, but on a light iron-work colonnade viaduct “of Grecian architecture of the Ionic order of which the entablature would form a parapet for the line”. Starting from the projected terminus at Kingsbridge (now Heuston) Station the line would pass over and along the south quays, and upon nearing Carlisle (now O’Connell) bridge, the line would cross over a number of streets and even pass through terraces of houses to reach Westland Row station, the platforms of which were already raised well above street level. To realise such an ambitious project, there is no doubt that much of the artistic elegance in his concept imagery would have had to be somewhat sacrificed for structural stability. K.H Vignoles states in his book on Charles Blacker Vignoles that the concept was “more a testomony to his artistic imagination than to his engineering skill”.17 The project recieved heavy criticism from the press and private railway companies, who saw the Commissioner’s report, Charles Blacker Vignoles’ project, and the interference of government as a threat to their businesses. According to Niall McCullough, in his book ‘Dublin: An Urban History’ a full scale model of one section of the track was installed to show its possibilies.18 Vignoles campaigned early for state-run railways in Ireland, forseeing the down-turn of Irish rail in the face of little government funding, poor infrastructural foundations, and the ultimately inefficient and disconnected failure of private enterprise railways not working together. Soon there was to be widespread demand for the amalgamation of the train network and for state support.19

17, 15 Vignoles, K. H. (1982). Charles Blacker Vignoles, romantic engineer. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. 18 McCullough, Niall. Dublin : An Urban History. Dublin: Anne St. Press, 1989.


FIGURE 30 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Railway Colonnade proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

FIGURE 31 - Outline plan of Dublin exhibiting proposed Railway Collonade through the city, route highlighted by author Printed by C.B. Vignoles to accompany the appendix of the Second Report of the Commissioners 1838.

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FIGURE 32 - Railway Colonnade Along the Quays of Dublin, perspective by Charles Blacker Vignoles Vignoles, Keith H. Charles Blacker Vignoles, Romantic Engineer. 1982.


FIGURE 33 - Railway Colonnade Along the Quays of Dublin, perspective by Charles Blacker Vignoles Vignoles, Keith H. Charles Blacker Vignoles, Romantic Engineer. 1982.

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1877 - phoenix pArk tunnel <greAt southern & western>

Between 1861 and 1865 there were at least six separate schemes proposed to link termini and in the manner of doing things at the time, each scheme sought the passing of the necessary Act by Parliament. However, the government took the view that what was actually needed was one central station that would link all of the existing termini; an idea that is maybe even more relevant today than at the beginning of the 21st century. The proposal accepted was for a line from Sandymount to Kingsbridge (Heuston), via Ringsend, North Wall, Drumcondra, Cabra and Phoenix Park. The plan was to tunnel underneath the River Liffey. In 1866, work was commenced at the Point Lighthouse. Unfortunately, it proved impossible to keep the shafts dry and the project was abandoned. Crossing the Liffey near its mouth proved to be a major obstacle and therefore the first successful linkage of any of the termini involved an amazingly circuitous route. By tunnelling under Phoenix Park , the Kingsbridge (Heuston) Line was joined to the MGWR at Glasnevin in 1877 - in turn joining it to Amiens St. (Connolly) Station. 20 The line has never been used for regular passenger trains, but runs 690 metres underground before re-emerging close to the junction of the Cabra Road and Navan Road. Most traffic through the tunnel comprises carriages and engines being shunted between what are now Heuston Station and Connolly Station for maintenance. What is important to note about this scheme is that although the Kingsbridge Railway Line was connected to Amiens St. Station, the Kingsbridge Station was not. The tunnel was in fact fed by a track departing the Kingsbridge Line slightly before reaching Kingsbridge Station itself. The lack of an integrated platform at Kingsbridge terminal for the underground trains meant that there was no suitable means of disembarking at the station, and therefore it was not possible to travel between Amiens St. and Kingsbridge Stations. No real interconnection was established. Although a platform for the underground line does exist at Heuston today (Platform no.10), it is a considerable distance from the station terminal. On Tuesday, August 18th 2015, Minister for Transport Paschal O’Donohue is quoted in the Irish Times saying he expects this platform to be used in the future and that from Autumn 2016 onwards, the tunnel will be used by passenger services to Connolly.

20 Brady, Joseph E., and Anngret Simms. Dublin :Through Space and Time (C.900-1900).The Making of Dublin City. Dublin: Four Courts, 2001.


FIGURE 34 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Phoenix Park Tunnel proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

FIGURE 35 - Photograph showing interior condition of Phoenix Park Tunnel

FIGURE 36 - Photograph showing south entrance to tunnel via bridge over the river Liffey

FIGURE 37 - Elevation and Cross Section Drawings of Liffey Railway Bridge/Liffey Viaduct at Phoenix Park Tunnel Dublin City Council, www.BridgesofDublin.ie. “Liffey Viaduct: Design & Engineering.”

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1891 - loop line bridge <john chAloner smith & williAm h. mills> The question of linking Westland Row with Amiens Street and, in turn, Amiens street with the other lines had yet to be addressed. The pressure came, not from the travelling public and commuters, but from the post office. Post was sent from the boats at Kingstown (Dub Laoghaire) to Westland Row (Pearse Station) by train where it was then transferred to horse-drawn vans and sent to Kingsbridge (Heuston) or Amiens Street (Connolly). From here the mail was re-loaded onto trains. This obviously made little sense and proved to be extremely inefficient. The DWWR (The Dublin Wicklow and Wexford Railway company) suggested that the simplest answer was an overground line linking Westland Row and Amiens Street which in turn could be linked to the other lines by a circular spur to Newcomen Bridge. Interestingly, it was the Corporation who led the protest against this proposal as it felt that the line, which would go via Beresford Place, would disfigure the skyline and ruin the view of the Custom House. The proposal engendered a hot debate during which a tunnel was ruled out because of the engineering difficulties involved in getting it deep enough below the Liffey in the distances involved. The more commercial case for a bridge over the river was eventually selected to go ahead and the Bill was passed in 1882. It was not until 1891 before the Loop Line was completed21 and not without heated debates between the various railway companies but at least the north and south were now linked by rail. In 1901, the GSWR (Great Southern and Western Railway) made a branch line for themselves from Kingsbridge to North Wall with stations at Glasnevin and Drumcondra. This explains the two proximate and also parrallel railway lines through Glasnevin and Drumcondra. These stations were joined to the line out of Amiens Street in 1906 but had only a very short existence and were closed soon after, though the Drumcondra station was re-opened in 1997. So, a Dubliner in the early years of the last century had a more-or-less integrated, if somewhat indirect, rail system and the city was reasonably well served by local stations. 22 The Loop Line was controversial to begin with and has remained so since. Built to carry the City of Dublin Railway Junction or ‘Loop Line’, three spans were to be constructed at 116 feet, 131 feet and 140 feet. The massive wrought-iron girders 13 feet deep are carried on pairs of cylindrical cast-iron caissons filled with concrete. These are effectively expressed as enormously beefy columns with stylised capitals. The landward supports of the bridge in the vicinity of the Custom House were clad with classical piers in Portland Stone. An alternative proposal to run the bridge east of the Custom House was defeated. The arguments against its disfiguring and ugly nature that were made at its inception are still relevant and its removal remains on the agenda today. Abercrombie gave the bridge a scathing review in his “Dublin of the Future” (published 1922), suggesting the removal of the bridge in favour of an underground track. 23The bridge is currently at capacity, its two tracks do not seem sufficient to cater for the express commuter trains as well as the DART, and delays have become common as a result. Given its vital role and current level of usage, it will likely not be removed for some time.

21 Christine Casey,The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 693. 22 Brady, Joseph E., and Anngret Simms. Dublin :Through Space and Time (C.900-1900).The Making of Dublin City. Dublin: Four Courts, 2001.

23 Cahill, Gerry, Loughlin Kealy, and University College Dublin. School of Architecture. Dublin City Quays : Projects by the School of Architecture, Ucd. Dublin: School of Architecture, UCD, 1986.


FIGURE 38 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Loop Line Bridge proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

FIGURE 40 - A steam train negotiates its way across the Loop Line Bridge from Connolly Station Pickup, B. “RPSI Photo Gallery.” Railway Preservation Society of Ireland. FIGURE 39 - Diagram of Dublin City’s Railways in 1905, showing various companies’ tracks and Loop Line Bridge connection Society, Irish Railway Record. Volume 12. Irish Railway Record Society, 1975-76.

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FIGURE 41 - “Loop Line Bridge - Aerial View 2010.”, Bridges of Dublin, Dublin City Council, Dublin.

FIGURE 42 - View looking north of Liberty Hall from beneath the Loop Line Bridge. .

FIGURE 43 - Elevation and Cross Section Drawings of Loop Line Bridge Dublin City Council, www.BridgesofDublin.ie. “Loop Line Bridge: Design & Engineering.”

FIGURE 44 - Butt Bridge and the Loopline Rail Bridge Dublin. 1910. Joe Williams Postcard Collection, South County Dublin Library, Dublin.


FIGURE 45 - Postcard of The Custom House and Loopline Bridge Looking West. Hickey, Oliver. Circa 1890. Custom House Postcards, Dublin City Council, Dublin.

FIGURE 46 - “The Dublin Connecting Railway”, Perspective by Smith & Mills showing proposed Loop Line Bridge “1891 - Loop Line Bridge Dublin.” Archiseek. Accessed November 22, 2015

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1979 - liffey line <lAnce wright & kenneth browne>

Described by Lance Wright and Kenneth Browne as a major townscape proposal in the Architectural Review of 1974, this underground line is all but invisible at ground level, and according to the proposal would “bring life and prosperity back to the Liffey banks�. Included in their perspective is a large glazed shopping arcade to the top right of the image. There is something very Victorian about the ideas conveyed in this scheme, a large Crystal Palace-like shopping arcade is served by train tunnels, and it is clear from the graphics used in the collage that the authors were inspired by the London underground. What is interesting about this proposal (despite the lack of information on it) is that it shows a return to thinking about below-grade options in the city centre at a time when there had been little interest in tunneling beneath the city as a result of the tram systems. With the tramlines torn up, there was a transport vacuum to be filled in Dublin, and many in Ireland looked to our neighbours in London for an answer.

FIGURE 47 - Areas not served by rail or the new Liffey Line underground are supplied with radial express bus routes


FIGURE 48 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Liffey Line proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

FIGURE 49 - “The Liffey Line”, An underground line linking Pearse with Heuston via a tunnel under the south quays A Future for Dublin. Architectural Review. London: Architectural Press, 1974.

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IN PROGRESS - DART UNDERGROUND, LUAS AND METRO NORTH

The driving force behind recent developments has been Transport 21, an infrastructure plan launched in November 2005, at the height of the construction boom. A cost estimate of €34 billion was attached to the plan at the time to include further investment in Ireland’s road network, and investment in the form of buses and rail (including the DART Underground - see Figures 50-53). Due to economic decline, this project was cancelled in May 2011, by which time much of the masterplan had been implemented except for the creation of an integrated metropolitan rail network. Transport 21 projects included a tunnel under Dublin city centre connecting Heuston Station with Pearse Station and Docklands station at Spencer Dock. This would facilitate the expansion of the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) system from one line to two. Also included were several new Luas lines, a metro system, and tighter integration between all rail systems, particularly at the planned St. Stephen’s Green interchange. This would create a single integrated rail network in Dublin that served the north, south, east and west of the city. Unfortunately with the cancellation of investment in 2011, the radial system and master plan had been left without a hub at the centre. Dublin was left without any real infrastructure capable of integrating its various forms of transport. Development came to a halt with the economic crash and the public transport system (or lack there-of) was starved of the necessary planning and funds needed to operate a service efficiently.

FIGURE 50 - 2005 – Aer Lingus Headquarters, Dublin Airport. A prospective underground or metro station is included in the scheme. Architects, Henry J. Lyons. “Aer Lingus Headquarters, Dublin Airport, Dublin.” 2005.


FIGURE 51 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and recent/modern proposals Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

FIGURE 52 And FIGURE 53 - Visualisation of DART Underground tunnel and station, 2014 O’Brien, Carl. “225m Spent on Shelved Dublin Transport Projects ” The Irish Times, 3rd January 2014

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IN PROGRESS - DART UNDERGROUND, LUAS AND METRO NORTH Typically, a growing capital city in the developed world is not faced with the problem of having to invent a focus for metropolitan transport. Dublin however, has historically provided a campus-like response to the architectural problem of providing centres for urban transport infrastructure. Scattered and dotted around the inner city are bus, train and tram stations - all of which lack a shared fluency. A certain level of directional confusion is understandable given the historical fabric of the city, unlike its newer and gridded US counterparts for example. However, there is absolutely no sense of the kind of system integration one experiences when handed a map at an information kiosk in a foreign city like Berlin or London. Typically, and as an urban alternative to a transportation core, these capitals employ a pair (or more) of radial routes that are connected for operational reasons by a single cross city route (This actually sounds more appealing for Dublin than the centralised alternative given the size of both Heuston and Connolly and the existing underground rail link between them). The very latest metropolitan rail scheme proposed for Dublin is that of Metro North (see Figures 54-57), a project not set to begin for another 12 years that aims to connect Dublin city centre to Dublin Airport and Swords. There is no way of knowing for sure whether this will become another shelved project to add to a long list.

FIGURE 54 - Visualisation of Metro North station, 2014 Architects, HKR. “Metro North, Dublin.� http://www.hkrarchitects.com/project/metro-north-dublin/


FIGURE 55 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and recent/modern proposals. FIGURE 56 - Extract from “Dublin Economic Core Area Rail Map” by the All-Ireland Research Observatory

FIGURE 57 - New Metro North planned route, the high-speed rail link from Dublin city centre to Dublin Airport and Swords

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FIGURE 60 - “Selection and Appraisal of Alternative Underground Alignments” - Core Tunnel Option WS Atkins International Ltd., and Ireland. Dublin LRT Study, 1998.

FIGURE 61 - “Selection and Appraisal of Alternative Underground Alignments” - Unified Proposal WS Atkins International Ltd., and Ireland. Dublin LRT Study, 1998.


FIGURE 62 - A standalone metro network proposal which includes a circle line linking Dublin’s transport hubs McDonald, Frank. The Construction of Dublin. Oysterhaven, Kinsale: Gandon, 2000

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<chApter 5> Considered ArchitecturAl proposAls And urbAn strAtegies designed to resolve resulting disconnections And physicAlly link Dublin city's rAilway stAtions.

<centrAlisAtion> Centralisation, in the context of this dissertation, refers to proposals which seek to centrally link train termini via the construction of one main central station. Typically, a central station will be used at the core (or hub) of a radial system of transport. There are advantages and disadvantages to this particular strategy. Terminating one or more routes in the centre of a built up area; a city or town, can cause high rates of congestion. When talking about the epicentre of populated areas, the value of land must also be considered as it is often required that station facilities are very large and require huge amounts of open space. With centralisation, there is not always the option to bypass the most congested area of the city, and time can be wasted in this manner, reducing vehicle utilisation and increasing costs to both operator and consumer. On the other hand, with the provision of a simple central station, fare structures prove to be less complex, interchanges can be made convenient at a sole terminal, and there is little confusion over less complicated connections between trains involving more than one station. Centralisation also provides the opportunity for other modes of transport to focus their resources and energy when attempting intermodal connections in the heart of the city.


FIGURE 63 - Proposal for New Central Square & Railway Station, Dublin Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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1872 - grAnd centrAl stAtion <frederick bArry> Frederick Barry was an engineer employed by the Board of Works in Ireland between 1847 and 1855. In 1855, Barry set up an independent practice, and was subsequently chiefly engaged in railway work. During the 1860s and 1870s, in collaboration with an English railway engineer who worked on the London Metropolitan Railway, Sir John Fowler, he worked on the construction of the Great Northern & Western Railway. Barry was sole engineer for the Castlebar and Ballina parts of the system. In 1863, he prepared the first scheme for a Dublin junction railway, and in 1872 his design for a huge central railway station in Dublin was under consideration by a committee of the House of Commons.24 Inspired by the work of Charles Blacker Vignoles, Frederick Barry is revered for his work on Irish railways. With his 1872 proposal to build a Grand Central Station and large hotel near Eustace Street, he became the first person to develop plans for a Junction Station in central Dublin. A junction station usually refers to a station where more than three main railway lines diverge at one terminus. The proposed station would have meant the construction of a large terminus in the Dame Street area.25 The Railway News on February 9, 1872 wrote about the project under the rather biased headline of “The Dublin Leviathan Station”: referring to the project as “invading the city so to speak with a monster central station”. It goes on to describe the ambitious nature of the failed proposal: “The Central Station is to be constructed on iron girders which are to span the River Liffey between Carlisle and Essex Bridges. which is to be covered in from bridge to bridge, on which this structure is to be erected. The property between Merchants Quay and Essex Bridge, as well as that on Bachelor’s walk is referenced to be purchased for the purpose of the works.” Needless to say, neither this nor any of the scores of railway-connecting projects conceived of over the next two decades ever made it off the drawing board. It wasn’t until 1891 and the construction of the Loop Line bridge that any of the termini were actually connected by any sort of direct rail. As previously mentioned, the Phoenix Park tunnel is excluded, as it does not actually provide station to station transport of passengers within the city (interconnection).

24 25

Builder: Issue 30, 3 Aug 1872, 602 O’Dwyer, Frederick. Lost Dublin. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1981.


FIGURE 64 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Frederick Barry’s Central Station proposal Adapted from : O’Rourke, Horace T. “Civic Survey.” (1925).

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1922 - union station <pAtrick Abercrombie> Submitted in 1914, but not published until 1922 was “Dublin of the Future”, a prize-winning collection of maps and designs re-imagining the city of Dublin. The proposals, by Patrick Abercrombie, Sydney Kelly and Arthur Kelly were initially a response to a 1912 competition. At the location of O’Connell Street, the proposed town plan shows a Central Station, a Union Station for Ireland. At the core of the radially planned concept, this station would connect underground lines (East with West and North with South) at a series of platforms in the terminus, allowing for trains to diverge and bring people from all corners of the country into (and through) the city centre.26 What is vital to understand in the case of Abercrombie’s Central Station proposal is the actual year it was designed. With a growing, successful, profitable and world-famous tram network, Dublin at the time was well catered for in terms of metroplitan transport. Not only was there reduced demand for a central train station but with the outbreak of World War 1, the 1916 Easter Rising, the War of Independance from 1919 to 1921, and an ensuing and destructive Civil War, the prospect of a central train station for Dublin was probably not a priority. Elements of the tram system began to go out of service soon after Abercrombie’s proposal was made, and starting from the mid-1920s, they were overtaken by the bus. The decline of the trams accelerated in the 1940s and the last trams ran on 9 July 1949 in Dublin city and in 1959 on Howth Head.27 Recommendations for the construction of a central bus station in Dublin were first made in 1945 when Abercrombie proposed a new sketch development plan for the inner city. The timing is again important. Abercrombie seems to have quite a talent for proposing construction after conflict, and with World War II coming to a close, cities had to be rebuilt. Dublin however, was spared the blitz and the bombs during the war. Instead Dublin had ripped out her own tram network by 1949 in favour of the combustion engine which ultimately led to traffic jams. The city was about to become congested with motors and seems to return to the same set of urban transport challenges that it had during the famine. Crucially, the railway termini remained disconnected and at a distance from one another.

FIGURE 65 - Perspective of New Central Square & Railway Station, Dublin Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922 26 Abercrombie, Patrick, Sydney Kelly, and Arthur Kelly. Dublin of the Future :The New Town Plan, Being the Scheme Awarded First Prize in the International Competition. Civics Institute of Ireland Publications. Liverpool: University Press of Liverpool, 1922. 27 Stewart, D. ‘Dublin city passenger transport services’. - Dublin: Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland,Vol. XXIX, Part III, 1954/1955, pp136-158


FIGURE 66 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Central Station proposal

FIGURE 67 - Proposal for New Central Square & Railway Station, Dublin Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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FIGURE 68 - Survey map overlayed with Abercrombie’s New Town Plan, station highlighted by author Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922


FIGURE 69 - Map of Abercrombie’s Central Station at the heart of his proposed traffic system and new road network Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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1975 - dublin trAnsportAtion centre <skidmore, owings & merrill> The UN-sponsored Dublin Transportation Study, published in 1971, favoured the discouragement of the car as a means of inner city transport. It would seem that cars were becoming quite an issue on the old Georgian streets of the capital. The study also promoted a new office development around a central bus terminal at O’Connell Street. The scheme received criticism from the start. In ‘A Future for Dublin’, Wright and Browne claim this solution is logical “provided you look on the city primarily in traffic terms.” It is illogical and unattractive “if you look at the city from a human and social point of view.” According to them, concentration about one point in the city would lead to intense land speculation and therefore to an irresistable demand to pull down and build high; it would turn the heart of the city into an “office ghetto” and by depriving other areas of the city of this key component it “acts against mixed development.” 28 Prior to the Dublin Transportation study, as early as 1968, Dr. Schaecterle had been commissioned by CIE to examine the possibility for a central bus station. In 1971, he recommended the location of this facility along the quays west of O’Connell Street and by accident or design, in the same year (1971), one of the recommendations of the Dublin Transportation Study called for the city to initiate a study to examine the feasibility of a rapid rail transit system29. From 1973 to 1975 a multi-disciplinary team including Alan M.Voorhees and Associates as well as Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) Architects assessed potential for a rapid rail transit system and central bus station in a CIE-sponsored study. The study indicated that “a transit system was not only feasible from a service point of view, but projected a positive cost-benefit model.”30 Voorhees & Associates advised on transportation aspects of the design, and in consultation with CIE and Dublin Corporation, the consultants recommended a route structure into the Dublin Transportation Centre. The underground DART system was planned to intersect below the bus terminal, at 14 metres (north-south rapid rail line) and 28 metres (east-west line) below ground level. The site was located north and south of the river at a crucial junction between the two main business districts at the time, and the growing suburbs of the west, north and south. At the heart of this architectural proposal and urban concept was the injection of population and life into a declining city centre, without the need for the widening of roads, maintaining the historic fabric of the streets around it and transfusing the city centre. The recommended system of two rail lines with peripheral branches would basically traverse the city from the new town at Tallaght to the north side of Howth and from Blanchardstown to Dun Laoghaire and Bray. Both lines were planned to provide several stops at the city centre including a major station at their intersection. Direct peak hour service between central Dublin and the outlying new towns was acknowledged as being a very specific role of the transit system, one which had not been accommodated by any road improvement plan in the 1971 Transportation study. The system was to be both on-grade and underground, the latter within the densely built city centre.

28

Wright, Lance, and Kenneth Browne. A Future for Dublin. London: Architectural Press, 1975.

29 Cahill, Gerry, Loughlin Kealy, and University College Dublin. School of Architecture. Dublin City Quays : Projects by the School of Architecture, Ucd. Dublin: School of Architecture, UCD, 1986. 30 Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, Nordal Associates, Inc. Dublin Transportation Centre. A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975.


FIGURE 70 - Key map created by author to show railway routes, stations and Transportation Centre proposal FIGURE 71 - Development Site and Proposed Rapid Transit System Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin

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One of the compelling factors that influenced the decision to locate the intersection of the two major lines between the O’Connell and Grattan Bridges, was the proposed location for the Dublin Bus Terminal. Because the Transit Study explicitly acknowledged the need to create an efficient and effective modal interface, the plan assumed that the subway intersection would lie immediately below the bus terminal and enjoy direct connections to it. The plans for the central Dublin bus terminal were proposed to go ahead in anticipation of an underground rail link being established, with “phasing consideration given to alternative implementation schedules.” The 1975 Transit Study anticipated the completion of the Tallaght-Hesuton-Tara Street segment by 1983 and the Blanchardstown-Central segment by 1986. Named ‘The Dublin Transport Centre Development’, this project with rail lines intersecting below the bus terminal site, would have finally achieved a contemporary solution to an urban interchange and transportation core at the heart of Dublin city. The City Development Plan in the late 1960s envisaged a four-finger (radial) development westward. The Myles Wright development plan recommended the stategy of building up the suburbs around Tallaght, Clondalkin, Lucan and Blanchardstown (forming satellite towns accessible in the same manner as Dun Laoghaire). The recommendations tabled for the rapid rail took account of this fact and the proposal gave access to the city centre from the outlying locations. Again, peripheral sprawl and radial routes were invisaged and realised, but the at the heart of the concept was a transport hub that never materialised. Dublin is now faced with the same problem it had in 1849 without the necessary connections between stations or modes of transport. FIGURE 72 AND 73 left- Model photographs of proposed scheme Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin

FIGURE 74 - Site Plan Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin


FIGURE 75 - Massing Alternatives for Transportation Centre

FIGURE 76 - Terminal Access Configurations Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin

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FIGURE 77 - Building Use and Planning Module drawings of the Transportation Centre Proposal Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975


FIGURE 78 - Long and Short Section drawings of the Transportation Centre Proposal Skidmore, Owings & Merill, Alan M.Voorhees & Associates, A Report to Coras Iompair Eireann. Dublin 1975

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disconnected dublin:

exploring the history of ArchitecturAl proposAls to link dublin's rAilway stAtions

<CONCLUSION> It was the silting up of Dublin Port that prompted the development of Kingstown Harbour and subsequently Ireland’s first railway line. The construction of the city quays, and the channelling of the rivers Liffey, Tolka and Dodder, resulted in a speedier flow of water and the delivery and settlement of silt at the mouth of the port. It could be said that the early human processes of crossing and hardening the rivers’ banks at the city centre quays led to the construction of what was arguably the world’s first metropolitan railway. This rail link from suburban harbour to city centre provided a transport model necessary for the outward migration of the inner city tenements and the suburbanisation of Dublin. This demonstrates the impact of geographical setting and resulting human processes on the development and necessity for urban rail connections in Dublin. However significant the influence of geographical setting, there was a more significant factor at play. A review of the history of architectural proposals reveals that the lack of a common and co-ordinated vision, generation after generation, tended to impede the progress of planned and efficient development of the capital’s transport infrastructure. The metropolitan and regional railway system was largely created by a group of private railway companies, who operated on a national basis but resulting in disconnected radial routes from Dublin. Communication between these commercially minded private railway companies was not fostered by the oversight of an independent national or governmental body until ninety years after the first railway was built in the country. It was the formation of The Great Southern Railways company by the first Irish Free State government in 1925 that showed the first signs of true governmental coordination for the railway firms. Prior to the establishment of an Irish Free State, it would be the inability of private railway firms to work together on the unification of the Dublin region’s railway lines that would have the most adverse effect on the city’s development of railway connections. It was this commercial disconnection that led to widespread physical disconnection between Dublin’s stations prior to the formation of the state. With the exception of a couple of interconnecting routes (the Loopline Bridge and Phoenix Park tunnel), Dublin’s railway lines remain insufficiently connected, adding to problems of capacity already witnessed along popular routes. Later, the coordination of the railway companies by government disappointingly failed to lead to improved physical connections between Dublin’s key stations. With the gradual withdrawal of private companies and their owners’ wealth, came a lack of finance necessary to take on large infrastructural projects. Financially strapped governments and a general downturn in the use of rail as a means of transport saw a growing disuse of large portions of the rail network. The lack of coal supply to Ireland during World War I, the targeting of the railways during the Irish Civil War, and the general decline in population due to emigration meant that Irish railways reached their peak around the year 1920. With the temporary revival of passenger rail transport during the years of the tram, Dublin kept pace with other European capitals with its large modern and integrated system. But with the last of the Dublin city trams removed in 1949, and the majority of transport infrastructure investment funneled into the recent construction of tolled motorways, the focus has been to increase the capacity of the road network and its centre of convergence, Dublin city. In the absence of funding for mass public transport such as rail, the capital has now become Europe’s sixth most congested city for traffic.


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The inability to pinpoint an urban core in Dublin seems to have caused a number of issues, but crucially it has acted as the primary and outstanding obstacle to radial connection by way of a central station. The location of a radially planned city’s transport hub is vital to both the system’s function and the city’s potential and capacity to grow, but in the case of Dublin, no real hub exists. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Houses of Parliament in Westminster had been making the case for a central station in Dublin. If we look back at the 1916 Rising and Civil War, the collateral damage caused in the city and the path of reconstruction, the opportunities to rethink how the Irish capital worked at its centre were not a priority. “Re-construction” was just that; the replacing of what had been damaged or destroyed. The city was repaired, not reimagined. The decision to rebuild the city as it was before its destruction was almost reflexive, and the vast majority of proposals since then have followed in similar nature. Dublin’s town planning tells the story of a historically protected cultural core which is every now and then retro-fitted in what can only be described as bureaucratic chaos to adapt to the changing pressures upon its parallel role not only as the country’s transportation hub but its capital and most populated city. These retro-fits have provided a campus-like response to the architectural problem of providing a centre for urban transport infrastructure. It is this scattered approach that suggests the need for better interconnection. In terms of proposals for the interconnection of railway lines in Dublin there seems to be a stronger case than that for centralisation. Not only do functioning precedents exist for the connection of metropolitan train stations, but the feasibility of proposals for interconnection are far greater when compared to that for the construction of a large station in the centre of the city. The problem of efficient connection between Dublin’s stations lies with the decision (or lack there-of) to tunnel beneath the city’s streets. While past projects have shown the overground alternative to be more popular, both financially and practically, the case for an underground system appears to have increasing validity. The proposal to provide an underground rail to link the north and south city is actually older that the state itself. Sir Patrick Abercrombie proposed the removal of the controversial Loop Line rail bridge as early as 1914, putting it underground, over 100 years before the idea would be shelved for financial reasons (again). The gift of hindsight allows for us to criticise these errors, however we must study these past patterns of research and proposal so that we may begin to understand which models were successful in their predictions, which weren’t, and why. By studying these architectural proposals designed to solve the problems associated with how our city responds to growth, one can distill information from them their architectural goals, and through comparison and reflection, look for patterns in their predictions. Dublin has historically provided a campus-like and delayed response to the architectural problem of providing centres for urban transport infrastructure. Scattered and dotted around the inner city are bus, train and tram stations - all of which lack a shared fluency. A certain level of directional confusion is understandable given the historical fabric of the city, unlike its newer and gridded US counterparts for example. However, there is absolutely no sense of the kind of system integration one experiences when handed a map at an information kiosk in a foreign city like Berlin or London. Typically, and as an urban alternative to a transportation core, these capitals employ a pair (or more) of radial routes that are connected for operational reasons by a single cross city route (This actually sounds more appealing for Dublin than the centralised alternative given the size of both Heuston and Connolly and the existing underground rail link between them). London and Berlin once had somewhat of a blank canvas, the opportunity to plan and to start again, and they did, so why didn’t we? It could be argued that we had ample opportunity, but little success. Dublin may not have been bombed during World War II, but enough of the city centre was flattened between 1916 and 1922 to allow for the installment of better public infrastructure. And when the city finally did have an efficient system in place, that of the Dublin Tramways, it was torn out in confidence that the car would take over.


FIGURE 79 - The damaged areas in the neighbourhood of O’Connell Street. The hatched portions were destroyed in 1916, and the dotted areas in 1922. Did this clear enough space for a potential re-imagining of transport infrastructure at the heart of the city? Did we miss an opportunity to connect our city? Abercrombie, Patrick. Dublin of the Future: The New Town Plan, 1922

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Unfortunately, Dublin’s town planning tells the story of a historically protected cultural core which is every now and then retro-fitted in what can only be described as bureaucratic chaos to adapt to the changing pressures upon its parallel role not only as the country’s transportation hub but its capital and most populated city. Dublin is a port city, where the port has moved out to sea, it is an industrial city, where industry has moved to the peripheries, and it has now become for many, an office. If we realise the conservation of the city centre as a primary concern, and we understand that the decision to retain the urban fabric is of utmost importance, we must interrogate new possibilities as to how the city will cope with growth in the future among these constraints, and for once, we must do that before it happens, so as to begin a culture of foresight and action. We cannot respond to change on a year-to year basis, but we must study the patterns of the past and aim to project and provide for the future needs of the city.


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