In november 2025, I was honoured to attend the ETTA national Awards ceremony after winning the ETTA award for Technology in my region. This was an amazing experience, however it does not come close to the experience of planning, designing and building my project.

In 2025, the leaving cert technology brief was focused on sustainability. My mind went to transport immediately. In Ireland, we have (still as of 2026) no rail system to connect the airport to the rest of the country. Hence, many people drive to the aiprort - which takes up precious land to build car park spaces. The increased road traffic around Dublin Airport is also horrible for the local emissions, which are already high due to the air traffic in the region.

I decided to design a rail network connecting Dublin Airport to both Connolly & Heuston stations in Dublin. This would allow people to travel to the airport without having to drive, and would also reduce the amount of land needed for car parks at the airport. This is an approach the government should (in my opinion) take to improve irish transport network and reduce our carbon footprint.

This model rail network was powered electrically and controlled by a Genini Board. It also included a real-time display of train times - with an expected time of arrival. This ETA display was controlled by a Micro:Bit - a small simple computer that is perfect for introductory electronics. I really enjoyed making this project and learning the skills associated with it. It brought out the inner train-nerd in me!

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