Luas docklands line to open 2nd week of December

Idbatterim

the new line wont be worth taking, unless your going atleast 3 stops! whos going to pay, to wait for a tram then have the journey time, when they could have walked to the destination by the time the tram arrives! It will have to be fairly frequent!

markpb

Idbatterim wrote: »

the new line wont be worth taking, unless your going atleast 3 stops! whos going to pay, to wait for a tram then have the journey time, when they could have walked to the destination by the time the tram arrives! It will have to be fairly frequent!

There is no new line - there's just a line extension. The extension doesn't need to be attractive on it's own, it opens new areas to people on the existing route. It could be used by people from Tallaght going to the O2, or people living in the Docklands apartments working in Bluebell.

When Metro North opens, you can get from the Airport to the Conference Center without walking. When the Interconnector is built, you can get from Howth to the Red Cow on a single change.

Why are people so negative?

paulm17781

markpb wrote: »

Why are people so negative?

The mentality is quite shocking isn't it? "Hmm, something new... I'd best find a reason to put it down..."

I'm working pretty close to the extension, I also live in the city, it'd rarely be worth my while using it however I will use at some stage (running late / in a rush) where as I could never justify it from Connolly.

West Briton

One important thing which has gone unnoticed so far on this thread is that the frequency of services overall on the Red Line are actually decreasing from 5.30am Wednesday during peak hours.

The posters advertise an overall peak hour service of one tram every 6.5 minutes.

Sneaky, eh? I foresee Metro Vendors being run out of the way at Heuston within a week by "customers" attempting to cram on more infrequent trams..

markpb

West Briton wrote: »

One important thing which has gone unnoticed so far on this thread is that the frequency of services overall on the Red Line are actually decreasing from 5.30am Wednesday during peak hours.

The posters advertise an overall peak hour service of one tram every 6.5 minutes.

That's not right at all. Peak headways between The Point and Tallaght are every 6.5 minutes. Overall headway on the core of the Red line is still 4.5 minutes. Offpeak headway on the core is 8 minutes. See page 3 of this document from the RPA.

West Briton

Ah, good. That does allieviate some of my concerns.

I do think Connolly needs a greater frequency than one of three trams.

Carawaystick

markpb wrote: »

That's not right at all. Peak headways between The Point and Tallaght are every 6.5 minutes. Overall headway on the core of the Red line is still 4.5 minutes. Offpeak headway on the core is 8 minutes. See page 3 of this document from the RPA.

I don't think the 270 second headway is correct. I've often walked from the stop near Jervis St to Connolly station and not been passed by any tram.

It's good to see that there is no published timetable for Saturday, Sunday or Bank Hoidays. Why should I bother my hole to go to the tram stop to see when the rpa decided to run a tram? even Dublin Bus spout some story about when their busses will run to sucker potential passengers at weekends and bank holidays.

trellheim

It may be of interest but I look down on the Red Line from my desk at Jervis. Yesterday evening westbound around 1500 there were 3 trams within 2 minutes. Badly needed too, the first two trams were like Indian Railways.

MiniD

They have a new voiceover announcing the stops on the Red Line. I presume this is to update the system with the new extension to The Point.

The new female voice sounds a bit older and slightly abrupt. She also now duplicates everything into Irish instead of just the name stop of the stop.

Zebra3

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1208/breaking15.htm

Luas Red Line extension opens
Train users on the Red Line will be able to travel free of charge from 3pm today to mark the opening of the Luas extension from Bus Áras to the Point.

The new extension encompasses four new stops – at George’s Dock, Mayor Square, Spencer Dock and the Point. The route bypasses the current terminus at the Luas concourse at Connolly Station. The Rail Procurement Agency (RPA) says the distances to the new stop represent a walk of only one or two minutes.

One in three trams will deviate between Bus Áras and George’s Dock to serve the concourse at the station.

The route will pass the Harbourmaster bar and restaurant and will serve many of the corporate offices in the IFSC, as well as the National College of Ireland and new hotels, restaurants and wine bars on the north quays. It will also serve the 02, the soon to be completed concert hall and the Point Village.

Public consultation for the extension was launched in January 2001 and construction began in June 2007.

8 years and 11 months from the start of the public consultation to the opening? :eek: That length of time for such a short distance? No wonder this country is in such a state. :rolleyes:

davebuck

Zebra3 wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1208/breaking15.htm



8 years and 11 months from the start of the public consultation to the opening? :eek: That length of time for such a short distance? No wonder this country is in such a state. :rolleyes:

Every transport project in this country is the same look at MN and wait for the talking on the Dart IC in town,less time talking and more construction please.

noelfirl

AIUI didn't they find a lot of lost utility lines in the process of preparing street level, and these had to be dealt with before main construction could start, thus adding a whole lot of time on?

Victor

Zebra3 wrote: »

8 years and 11 months from the start of the public consultation to the opening? :eek: That length of time for such a short distance? No wonder this country is in such a state. :rolleyes:

there was very little progress from 2001 to 2005 because they were concentrating on getting lines A, B, C and C(S) built.

Victor

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1208/luas.html

Luas extended to Docklands area
listen Tuesday, 8 December 2009 13:04

The Luas Red Line has been extended to Dublin's Docklands, with four new stations opening to the public for the first time today.

The new stops will allow commuters travel to the heart of the Irish Financial Services Centre and concerts at the O2.

The new stops are at George's Dock, Mayor Square (NCI), Spencer Dock and The Point.
Advertisement

The line, which will be opened by Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, will be free for commuters from 3pm this afternoon.

Normal passenger services will start tomorrow from 5.30am.

Victor

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/1208/breaking15.htm

Luas Red Line extension opens
TIM O'BRIEN

Planning for public transport improvements will continue despite anticipated cuts in tomorrow's Budget, Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey insisted this afternoon.

Speaking at the launch of the Luas Red Line extension to the Point, Mr Dempsey joked he was glad the opening was happening "this side of the Budget", instead of after it.

Responding to questions from reporters later, Mr Dempsey reaffirmed the Government's commitment to developing Metro North, Dart underground and the remaining Luas lines.

Mr Dempsey said he could give “absolute assurance” that planning on Metro North and Dart underground would go ahead. “Both of them are in the capital programme going forward. They have to go through the planning process and the Government is absolutely committed to both of those projects".

Mr Dempsey said: "There are a couple of more Luas extensions that will open over the next couple of years and further ones that are in planning. We intend to ensure that we can bring all of those through planning and design and then we will build as we have the money to build."

Lines due to open next year and in 2011 are the Cherrywood extension and the extension to City West.

However, the Minister conceded that it would not be possible to complete planned rail lines would within the original Transport 21 timeframe. “It will be built, it will be planned for and as soon as we have the finance it will be built".

To celebrate the new Luas extension, travel between Tallaght and the point is free for the remainder of today. The extension from Busáras to the Point will incorporate four stops at Georges Dock, Mayor Square, Spencer Dock and The Point.

The project extends the Red Line for 1.5km from Connolly Station, through the Docklands to the Point. Total journey time on the Red Line from the Point to Tallaght will be 52 minutes and trams will run from the Point to Tallaght every 6.5 minutes at peak times and every eight minutes at all other times on weekdays.

Mr Dempsey said the extension would add 1.8 million passenger journeys to the network every year.

The new line will go into full service tomorrow morning at 5.30am.

RPA chief executive Frank Allen said that while many people in the IFSC had misgivings about building a light rail through the heart of a financial services centre, these concerns were well managed. Public consultation for the extension began in January 2001 and construction began in June 2007, he said.

http://www.transport.ie/pressRelease.aspx?Id=148

Dempsey launches Luas extension to Docklands

Mr. Noel Dempsey T.D., Minister for Transport, today officially opened the new Luas extension to the Docklands in Dublin city.

This project extends the Luas Red Line for 1.5km from Connolly Station, through the Docklands to the Point.

○ Total journey time on the extended Luas Red Line from the Point to Tallaght will be 52 minutes.
○ Trams will run from the Point to Tallaght every 6.5 minutes at peak times and every 8 minutes at all other times on weekdays.
○ The new line will go into full service tomorrow morning at 05.30am and will operate a full passenger service from that point.

Speaking today Minister Dempsey said: “I am delighted to be here to launch this new Luas Line to the Docklands. It is the first extension to Luas since services commenced in 2004 and will add 1.8 million passenger journeys every year to the Luas network. It also means that passengers can travel from Tallaght to the Point in 52 minutes.”

The Minister added: “The Docklands area contributes significantly to the national and regional economy as the home of the financial services sector. In this context, the area will have a key role to play to the regeneration of the city and, indeed, of the economy generally. I would like to commend all who have contributed to the creation of this element of Dublin’s public transport infrastructure, which will serve generations to come.”

ENDS

Victor

http://www.luas.ie/page.php?name=Luas_to_The_Point_opening_3pm_Tues_8th_Dec_2009

LUAS TO THE POINT OPENING 3PM TUES 8TH DEC 2009


Map

The extension of the Luas Red Line from Busáras to The Point will open to the public from circa 3pm on Tuesday 8th December. Normal passenger services will start on Wednesday 9th December from 5.30am.

We would like to invite you to come and see the new Luas line to The Point. Hop on and off for free at George’s Dock, Mayor Square – NCI, Spencer Dock and The Point after 3pm on Tuesday 8th December. Enjoy the atmosphere with carol singers, a gospel choir, Santa's Groto,a pipe band, a sneak preview of the Christmas market, face painters, stilt walkers and much, much more.

Click here for all the details of what will be happening at George’s Dock, Mayor Square – NCI, Spencer Dock and The Point after 3pm on Tuesday 8th December.

Click here to read or download details of the new Operating Hours, Service Frequency and Fares

Click here to read more about the Red Line extension, Luas Docklands (Busáras to The Point) (Line C1)

http://www.luas.ie/page.php?name=Travelling_to_The_O2_Venue

Travelling to the O2 Venue.

Veolia Transport advise people travelling to the O2 venue to leave plenty of time to travel to a concert and after a concert to expect to queue to board Luas at The Point stop.

Trams traveling from The Point stop after a concert will service Tallaght stop but some trams may travel to Heuston stop and Red Cow stop only. Passengers traveling to Tallaght must change and take the next tram to travel onward.

This is to accommodate the majority of people queuing for the tram post an event at The Point stop particularly those who may wish to connect with transport in the city centre and at the Red Cow Park & Ride.

dowlingm

Zebra3 wrote: »

8 years and 11 months from the start of the public consultation to the opening? :eek: That length of time for such a short distance? No wonder this country is in such a state. :rolleyes:

Not fair Zebra. The IFSC companies put unreal pressure on the planning process and the RPA had to undertake the highest level of care since power or telecom cuts (especially ones not advised in advance) could lead to losses in the millions. This was not a typical LRT line extension.

Zebra3

dowlingm wrote: »

Not fair Zebra. The IFSC companies put unreal pressure on the planning process and the RPA had to undertake the highest level of care since power or telecom cuts (especially ones not advised in advance) could lead to losses in the millions. This was not a typical LRT line extension.

I'm aware of all that, but come on, nine years (almost) for two miles or so?

Idbatterim

correction 1 mile = 1.6km. So a 1 mile extension how many years?

Crania

Firstly, I'd like to say, as a resident of the North Docklands, that the Docklands extension is a great transport link for the area and hopefully it will help to further rejuvenate the area and bring some life to it. However, I must say that after using it for the first time today, I found it quite slow, it took me 15 minutes to get from Abbey St. to The Point. If you include the time I waited on it and the walk from the Point to my apartment, I'd be quicker walking. So for people actually living in the area, it's still probably quicker or just as quick to walk. However, I was glad to see that after Connolly, the Luas has priority at all traffic ligfhts so at least it's not also slowed down by traffic lights. All that said, depsite the quite slow speed, it's still great for wet days, for connections further on such as Heuston and the Red Cow, etc but most importantly to bring people into the North Docklands area, such as those going to concerts in the O2 or NCI students, etc.

I was very impressed with the RPA today, they put on a great show, especially at Spencer Dock, and there was a great buzz around the place so fair play for that. There was also quite a number of RPA employees at each of the new stops which was great for questions and queries from those inquisitive among us (me!). For instance, I found out that in total the extension cost €90 million and two years of construction work to build a kilometre and a half of tramline. It seems like an awful lot of money for quite a short distance for a tram that doesn't go that fast (but I know that the spped limit set by DCC is 35km so it's not exactly the RPA's fault.) I don't mean to be negative, I'm all in favour of rail investment but it just seems like we didn't get that much bang for our buck in this instance.

I was just at The Point stop tonight to see how they would handle the crowds after the Lily Allen concert and I must say I was extremely impressed at how orderly the queue was and how efficiently it was dealt with. There was 10-15 RPA people at the stop directing people where to go which was good to see. However, the queue did seem endless! I was there for 15 minutes and I still couldn't see the end of the queue. From what I saw, there was usually three trams at the stop, they'd fill one up, let it go, fill another one up, let another tram in and then let another full tram go as well. It worked quite well from what I could see. I'm sure there were lots of annoyed people in the queue but in fairness I don't think they could've moved the people any quicker. There was quite a few people in the queue though who weren't waiting for the Luas, rather they just wanted to get onto the street and still had to queue up, so that's a lesson for anyone going to the Point in the future, if you don't want to use the Luas and just want to get out onto the street, don't use thie Luas exit because you'll have to queue up with everyone else for the Luas. Also, of the 5 trams I saw, two were for Heuston, two were the Red Cow and the other was for Tallaght so it would be pretty annoying if you got on a Heuston tram but you wanted to go to Tallaght. But I understand the logic for it, that being to let people off in the city centre as I'm sure is what most people will be doing.

All in all, it was a very well organised day(fair play for the free rides!) and very efficient dealing with the queues from what I could see tonight after the concert (but we'll see if Joe Duffy has a thing or two to say about it tomorrow) but I'm just a bit disappointed with the speed of the tram and also with the seemingly high level of cost involved in construction.

I hope I don't seem too negative, don't want to knock things. I do think it's a great idea, just very very expensive for the length of the extension.

strassenwolf

It's nice to see it open:), but it is also very sad that this Government were so terrified of causing any disruption to anybody that they chose to prioritise lines which do not pass through serious population centres.:(

Noel Dempsey confirmed this policy, by talking about the next projects on stream, the other developer-led citywest and Cherrywood extensions.:(

No sign of any lines being built to the higher density areas of the Dublin City Council area, like Terenure, Finglas, etc.

How nauseating to read of him talk about how this 90 million euro, circa 2 km extension is an illustration of the can-do attitude of the Irish people.:rolleyes:

And presumably Frank Allen chipped in with his usual stuff about how transport planners the world over are flocking to Dublin to meet the RPA wizards face-to-face and to finally understand how the city's magnificent public transport system is at all possible.:rolleyes:

According to Dempsey, planning will continue on the big underground projects, even though it seems there will be "some" slippage on the actual delivery of these projects.:(

And, of course, nary a mention of any non-developer-led LUAS projects.:(

After years of wealth, this is so depressing.:mad:

loyatemu

strassenwolf wrote: »

How nauseating to read of him talk about how this 90 million euro, circa 2 km extension is an illustration of the can-do attitude of the Irish people

yeah I was fairly stunned when I read that in the paper - 8 years from design to opening for a 1 mile tram line is surely an example of the Irish can't-do attitude.

Metrobest

strassenwolf wrote: »

After years of wealth, this is so depressing.:mad:

Look on the bright side. After months of recession/depression, it's uplifting to see a project go live that will make a real difference to quality of life of tens of thousands of people.

90 million is a drop in the ocean. It's about 2 days worth of government borrowings at the current rate.

Limerick Dude

I head to NCI quite frequently and usually it would take me about 15-20 minutes ish to walk from O'Connell st to NCI, i took the luas from abbey st last night and i was at NCI in less than 5 minutes, i didn't notice and difference in the speed of the luas'. Thought it was very handy and got me to my destinantion alot quicker.

Very pleased with it.

KC61

strassenwolf wrote: »

No sign of any lines being built to the higher density areas of the Dublin City Council area, like Terenure, Finglas, etc.

The Terenure/Rathfarnham option for LUAS will hopefully remain dead. It was an insane idea that would cause far too much hassle and would return something that had virtually zero priority.

Better to think METRO South!

Carawaystick

strassenwolf wrote: »

Noel Dempsey confirmed this policy, by talking about the next projects on stream, the other developer-led citywest and Cherrywood extensions.:(

Would the fact these lines are actually under construction be the reason they are next?

petronius

While I am positive about the LUAS, and the red line extension in the docklands, the issues I have.
1) why did it cost so much 90million for a km or 2!
2) why did it take so long to build
3) why did they not make a contingency when building the original red line for the extension. and have to dig up aimens st again!
4) shouldn't the docklands railway station not have been aside the luas line(or vica versa) joined up thinking my.....

markpb

petronius wrote: »

3) why did they not make a contingency when building the original red line for the extension. and have to dig up aimens st again!
4) shouldn't the docklands railway station not have been aside the luas line(or vica versa) joined up thinking my.....

Post of the week.

When you hear that the RPA told ABP that they will dig up O'Connell St and Ballymun during Metro North construction *to move utilities*, you might also go on to ask why this couldn't have been done when both of those streets were being dug up anyway.

KC61

Docklands Station to Spencer Dock LUAS stop takes 4 minutes to walk, which is hardly excessive.

paulm17781

KC61 wrote: »

Docklands Station to Spencer Dock LUAS stop takes 4 minutes to walk, which is hardly excessive.

Hardly impressive either.

Both are new and not directly linked.