Luas Extension

mollser

Does anyone know what the story is with the proposed luas extension to Cherrywood? Have they completed their consultations yet, are they near completion of these, or is the project a non runner at this stage?

A lot of property is using this extension as a sales tool, but i wouldn't like to see too many people getting their hopes up. Are we looking at 2, 5, 10 or 20 years away?

I've done a google on it, but not much info on it, except this pathetic bit:

Line B1 - Sandyford Industrial Estate to Cherrywood
This Line is an extension of Line B. Public consultation aimed at identifying the best overall route alignment was initiated in November 2000.

Design efforts have focused on an alignment via Ballyogan road and plans are at an advanced stage. It is hoped that an application for construction will be made in 2004.


www.luas.ie/plan/progress.asp

Victor

As of last November, comments were that they were proactively working on it.

Certainly a group of developers have put up quite a bit of funding for it.

BrianD

Isn't wonderful how property developers use the word "proposed"!! There is a new development out in Santry that has a "proposed" LUAS line running close to it!

thejollyrodger

LUAS SUCKS!!

the trams can only use 50% of the track cos the gauges are different sizes!!

why didnt they build the lines so that they are the same size?? dum engineers !!

Victor

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
LUAS SUCKS!!

Fancy expanding on that without using caps lock?

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
the trams can only use 50% of the track cos the gauges are different sizes!! why didnt they build the lines so that they are the same size?? dum engineers !!

The trams can use all the tram tracks, but yes they use a different gauge to Irish Rail. On the flip side they use the same gauge as most of the rest of the world, meaning off-the-shelf trams can be used.

thejollyrodger

listen victor dude, luas sucks 'cos you could have built a sub way for that sort of money.

The trams can use all the tram tracks, but yes they use a different gauge to Irish Rail. On the flip side they use the same gauge as most of the rest of the world, meaning off-the-shelf trams can be used

which is it ? can the trams use ALL of the track?

50% of the total new track laid is a different size to the other 50%. Can you belive that?? they built a new tram way with half of it to a different size !!!! So the lines cant connect!! thats dum!!

BrianD

Jolly Roger - you are incorrect. Both line A and line B are built to the same guage and trams are interchangeable,

The Sandyford line has a wider gap between the two tram tracks then the Tallaght. The objective was to allow possible future upgrading of the Sandyford line to metro standard as it is segregated most of its route from other roads. The Tallaght line can not be upgraded to metro standard as it runs on street for nearly the entire route.

thejollyrodger

so when they upgrade The 'c' Sandyford line, whats going to happen?

1) leave it as it is, so you basically have like 2 railways?
2) Relay the smaller lines to the new bigger size?

Why didnt they just do '2' in the first place? '1' sucks cos that means changing somewhere stupid if you want to go from a -> c OR b -> c

or even better build a sub way for a b and c, thats smart !

West Briton

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
so when they upgrade The 'c' Sandyford line, whats going to happen?

1) leave it as it is, so you basically have like 2 railways?
2) Relay the smaller lines to the new bigger size?

Why didnt they just do '2' in the first place? '1' sucks cos that means changing somewhere stupid if you want to go from a -> c OR b -> c

or even better build a sub way for a b and c, thats smart !

There seems to be an ocean of spin out there twisting downright lies about the Luas project, so that a dripfeed of ignorance can turn public opinion against the project before a single revenue earning tram can be run.

The trams on Line A/C, the Red Line from Tallaght to Connolly are identical to the trams on Line B, the Green Line from St. Stephen's Green to Sandyford. The only diiference will be that the Green Line trams have an extra ten metre section in the centre to accomodate more passengers. Any extensions to the above lines will of course not involve changes.

Just to spell it out, Line C is a continuation of Line A. There will be no change between Line C and Line A, and both will operate as the Red Line. Any extensions to either the Red Line to Tallaght or the Green Line to Sandyford will not be incompatible on the grounds of gauge.

It was a political decision in 1998 that prevented the two lines from linking up.

Gauge is the distance between the two rails that make up a single piece of track. The gauge of the Red Line is four feet, eight and a half inches. The gauge of the Green Line is four feet, eight and a half inches. The only difference between the two lines is that the distance between the TRACKS is slightly different. If a metro solution was adapted that used the Luas rolling stock then there would be no problem. All it would require would be longer trains.

How "dum" is that?

City Centre trams haven't caused congestion in other cities with narrow streets elsewhere in Britain and Europe so how come Dublin is different? Brussels has trams zipping around narrow streets in its city centre. The highly successful Croydon Tramlink zips through a congested city centre and traffic has found its own level. I'd love to see a metro to the airport but knowing the Department of Finance, if someone came along with it gift wrapped they would refuse it.

Victor

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
so when they upgrade The 'c' Sandyford line, whats going to happen?

They will put in longer trains and platforms and add a few extra substations. Nothing more complicated than that.

thejollyrodger

well man, i still say its a botched job!

luas means slow or retarded in irish right?

uberwolf

I'm gonna run with 'speed' or potentially 'velocity' depending on context.

BrianD

Nothing wrong with LUAS per se apart from the missing link between both lines. The real botched job is our overall transport planning.