Rail Announcements - August 14th 2006

Victor

http://www.rpa.ie/?id=308

Luas Line B1 - August 14th 2006

The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen T.D. today (August 14th) presented a signed copy of a Railway Order, to extend the Luas Green Line to Cherrywood, to Mr. Darragh Byrne, Secretary, Railway Procurement Agency. The 7.5 km extension will extend the length of the Luas Green Line from 9 km to 16.5 km.

The exchequer financial contribution for the Sandyford to Cherrywood Extension is included in Transport 21, the Government’s 10-year investment programme announced recently. However, through an innovative structure agreed between RPA, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and a group of private developers, more than half the cost of the extension will be provided through private sector contributions. This will significantly reduce the demand on the public purse. The Luas extension to the new town of Cherrywood is seen as a model of how transport and land use agencies can work together to ensure that world class infrastructure is put in place, before significant development takes place in the catchment area.

The new extension is expected to increase the number of passengers on the Green Line from more than 10 million a year at present to over 18 million passengers a year when the extension is completed. The estimated completion time is 2010. Existing Park & Ride facilities will be enhanced through the inclusion of a 300 vehicle Park & Ride facility at Carrickmines.

The journey-time from St. Stephen’s Green to Cherrywood will be 40 minutes – 18 extra minutes from Sandyford to Cherrywood.

There will be eleven new stops on the route, including a stop at Leopardstown Racecourse which will be used race days. This will be a welcome revival of the "Race Specials" which were very much a feature of the old Harcourt Street Line.

Other neighbourhoods served by the Luas extension will include The Gallops, Ballyogan Road, Brennanstown and Laughanstown.

The existing Luas lines were developed under the National Development Plan with EU funding assistance.

For more information, contact Tom Manning on +353 (1) 6463492

http://www.rpa.ie/?id=308

Luas Line B2 - August 14th 2006

The Railway Procurement Agency today (August 14th) produced details of the route options for extending the Luas Green Line to link Cherrywood with the Bray area (Luas Line B2).

The first copy of the RPA Newsletter announcing details of the route options for the Green Line extension was presented to Transport Minister Martin Cullen T.D. by RPA Director of Corporate Services, Mr. Ger Hannon at Sandyford Luas Depot. This extension of the Luas Green Line could add up to 8.3km to the Green Line,depending on which route is chosen. It is expected that an additional 9 million passenger journeys will be made annually as a result of this new extension.

The Government’s "Transport 21" national transport plan includes the extension of the Luas Green Line-firstly to Cherrywood and then on to the Bray area. The RPA has identified a number of route options which will form the basis of extensive public consultation in the coming months.

It is expected that journey time from the new Green Line terminus in Cherrywood (Bride’s Glen) will be around 16 minutes.

More than 22 million passenger journeys were made on Luas in 2005 and the indications are that this number will be exceeded in 2006.

The existing Luas lines were developed under the National Development Plan with EU funding assistance.

For more information, contact Tom Manning on +353 (1) 6463492

Victor

http://www.transport.ie/viewitem.asp?id=7846&lang=ENG&loc=1887

Cullen authorises construction of Luas extension from Sandyford to Cherrywood
14 August 2006

Cullen authorises construction of Luas extension from Sandyford to Cherrywood

Today (Monday, 14th August, 2006), the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen T.D., announced that he has approved the application by the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) for a Railway Order in respect of the extension of the Luas Green line from its existing terminus at Sandyford to Cherrywood.

The RPA applied to the Minister in November last for permission to undertake this project, which is part of Transport 21 and an independent Public Inquiry into the RPA's application was held in March of this year. The report of that Inquiry was published in April.

The Minister accepted the conditions recommended in the Inspector's report on the Public Inquiry and those conditions have been incorporated into the Railway Order which the Minister signed today.

In making his decision the Minister expressed his gratitude to James Connolly SC for the professional and thorough manner in which he carried out the Public Inquiry.

Construction on the extension is due to commence shortly and is expected to be completed in 2010.

Also today, Minister Cullen received the first copy of the public consultation document on the routes for further extension of the LUAS line from Cherrywood to the Bray area.

Minister Cullen said: "LUAS carried over 22 million passengers last year and is set to exceed this number this year, as more and more people choose to use public transport rather than their car. It is an integral part of our public transport infrastructure under Transport 21."

ENDS

http://www.transport.ie/viewitem.asp?id=7847&lang=ENG&loc=1887

Transforming Commuter Services - Kildare Route Service Frequency set to Double


14 August 2006
Today (Sunday 13th August, 2006) Transport Minister, Martin Cullen, T.D. announced that he has decided to grant a Railway Order in respect of the Kildare Route project. The Railway Order will allow Iarnrod Eireann to proceed with the land acquisition and construction of new tracks and stations along the route between Hazelhatch and Heuston station.

In making his decision the Minister considered the relevant documentation as required by him under the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act, 2001. These included the Report of the independent Inspector to the Public Inquiry, Mr Pat Butler, SC and all of the submissions made to the Minister.

The Kildare Route project involves doubling the number of tracks to four, with two dedicated lines for commuter services and two dedicated lines for Intercity and regional services. This will allow for more frequent running of commuter, regional and Intercity trains which currently compete for busy limited slots into Heuston. It will double the service frequency from Hazelhatch to Dublin, serving all stations. It will also double the service frequency between Dublin and Sallins, Newbridge, and Kildare, and continue to serve outer commuter towns including Portlaoise, Athlone and Carlow.

The existing service has a total capacity per day, per direction of 11,050 commuter passengers. This Project will see the capacity steadily increased to a total potential capacity of 36,400 commuter passengers per day in each direction.

Minister Cullen said: "This Transport 21 project represents €400 million investment to upgrade the railway infrastructure between Kildare and Heuston Station, aimed at significantly enhancing the frequency, capacity, reliability and accessibility of rail services between Heuston Station and commuter destinations in the Greater Dublin area as well as to InterCity destinations in the South and West"

New stations will be built at Kishogue and Adamstown, and Hazelhatch will be upgraded. In addition, the station at Cherry Orchard will be relocated to a new station at Parkwest and similarly the station at Clondalkin will be relocated 700metres from the existing station and will be known as Clondalkin-Fonthill. This new station will allow for bus interchange and will also allow for integration with Metro West.

"The investment in this project is also complementary to a number of other improvements made or currently underway on the railway network, including the upgrading of capacity and facilities at Heuston Station, the expansion of the Intercity and commuter fleets, and the development of the new Spencer Dock Station and the Train Depot in Portlaoise," said the Minister.

The Report of the Inspector, Pat Butler, SC was published on 23 May, 2006 and is available on the Departments' website www.transport.ie.

ENDS

jjbrien

I see the goverment has stated early to bride the public to get back into office.

bryanw

Well it's good news. I suppose what we're currently getting isn't "ideal" but its progress and we should be grateful.

jjbrien wrote:

I see the goverment has stated early to bride the public to get back into office.

I don't think they're bribing the public... they are the only ones who can do it. The other parties have absolutely no record on providing large infrastructure projects - all of what we're getting now is the current governments work. I wouldn't trust the country with anyone else - that's not to say the current government don't have any weaknesses, but who doesn't.

D'Peoples Voice

bryanw wrote:

they are the only ones who can do it. The other parties have absolutely no record on providing large infrastructure projects

Well to be fair they have some record, the rainbow government of the 90's cut back on expenditure for public transport if memory serves me correctly!
To be fair though, was it not the rainbow government who introduced the DART service in the early eighties? I didn't see a plaque outside Tara St etc commemorating the official opening, so I'm purely guessing, but if DART opened in the early eighties and the rainbow governemnt were in power from 1982 - 1986 etc

jjbrien

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Well to be fair they have some record, the rainbow government of the 90's cut back on expenditure for public transport if memory serves me correctly!
To be fair though, was it not the rainbow government who introduced the DART service in the early eighties? I didn't see a plaque outside Tara St etc commemorating the official opening, so I'm purely guessing, but if DART opened in the early eighties and the rainbow governemnt were in power from 1982 - 1986 etc

It was the rainbow goverment who came up with the plan for the luas. If they had not of been put out office then there would have had a better luas system. The Luas that was planned back then was a much bigger system which we see now its was clearly needed. The Maynooth commuter service would not exsit today without the rainbow goverment. So yes they did bring in big projects. Its just the FF/PD govemtn got in ehrn they were delivered after the rainbow goverment ordered them and took credit for them

MarkoP11

I think you will find it was at Albert Reynolds personal request back in the early 1980's that commuter services where introduced on the Maynooth line, the fact Luas was delayed actually released the funds to rebuild the Maynooth line

If anyone remembers in the 1980-1987 period there where more elections than you could wave a stick at

Jack Lynch signed off on DART in mid 1979 but it was Garret Fitzgerald who opened it in 1984, though there is a photo Haughey in Howth which can be dated to 1984. Garret Fitzgerald's governement subsequently pulled the plug on rail investment in 1987 by stalling on later phases of DART. Luas was in fact proposed by the DTI an independent non political group headed up by the late Prof Simon Perry of TCD. The Greystones DART was an election gimmick by Michael Lowry of FG to keep a seat, which FG lost in fact

Basic fact to learn is transport planners when allowed do a decent job problem is politcans won't let them be

loyatemu

MarkoP11 wrote:

...Basic fact to learn is transport planners when allowed do a decent job problem is politcans won't let them be

democracy... pah!

bryanw

jjbrien wrote:

The Luas that was planned back then was a much bigger system which we see now its was clearly needed.

The LUAS which was planned "back then" was much bigger but there is quite a large system being planned under Transport21. The problem is now "something else" is clearly needed, because Luas is failing as a system on capacity grounds. It can't cope and it's being extended further and further into suburbia. It shouldn't extend that far - that's why we need metro - and exactly why the Green Line should no longer be Luas. The Luas is a brilliant system but there is only so far it can be stretched - then we have to move onto thinking bigger.

Does anyone know whether or not the new planned Luas to Lucan will be the "upgradeable to metro" type line or like the red line? I think it should be considered putting it underground in the city centre - especially if the rest of the line is more or less segregated.

The Luas should be kept within the city and as the plan is - the link should be done and the extension to Liffey Junction. Then run the Green Line under to extend to Swords metro at Beechwood. Run Luas: Beechwood - Liffey Junction. Obviously there's not an awful lot can be done for the red line.

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Well to be fair they have some record ..... To be fair though, was it not the rainbow government who introduced the DART service in the early eighties?

They have very little record really - definitely on very large projects. FG is at around the same wavelength on the political spectrum as
FF - which means their outlook on transport will be similar, and Labour... well given recent disputes with trade unions in the transport system, the outlook could be very unpromising if Labour have a big voice in the next government. Wasn't FG/Labour governments who didn't give any more money to the Dart - meaning there were no extensions of services until the "boom years". No extra rolling stock, no extensions.

Fianna Fail have a good record on infrastructure in recent years, despite people (esp. the media ...cough...Independent) just picking at the mistakes. They may be responsible for things like delays on the Port Tunnel and overspending on little luxuries but they're also responsible for so much more. Completion of M50, developing the interuban routes - as well as substantial other road investment, Dart upgrade, Intercity investment, Luas (in some ways) - and of course their Transport21 plan, something with huge scope and ambition for investing in transport in Ireland - the likes of which have never been seen before...

MarkoP11

What people fail to recognise is Transport 21 is not some earth shattering program

Example Metro was supposed to be built under the NDP, it wasn't

Example Irish Rail the 10 year envelope offers not a cent more that that was available in the previous 5 year envelope, the whole plan was based on the existing level of funding being sustained not increased if it had been increased the delivery dates would move forward

The rail safety program is meerly a arse cover following a nasty safety audit it probably had a positve cost benefit when you compared the estimated fatalities against costs, through some miracle no one was killed but the stats said the risk was well outside acceptable standards, did'nt speed the trains up though. 20 years of neglect was the root cause by multiple governments, there is a clear link between accidents and investment

Subtract all the private money and you will find its not half as impressive as you are led to believe

Flukey

The Harcourt line and many others around the country, now lying idle, should have been opened years ago or never closed in the first place.

Flukey

Should we be giving them much credit for finally seeing the errors of their ways, decades after the rest of us, and trying to put it right?