Luas Cherrywood Extension

godtabh

I see that they have adds in the paper that live testing is starting next week

When are we likely to see the first service along the extension

AlekSmart

I understand that a Tram was spotted at Cherrywood earlier today !!!

Cookie_Monster

saw it at carrickmines while coming off the M50, rolling slowly along thru the station.

godtabh

I heard that too but was told that it wasnt starting to next week. Some of the junctions arent signalised or marked out yet (they were painting the yellow box last night in my estate).

rednik

Gauge run today, more running from Mon next week.

foggy_lad

that is great news for the many people living in this area who have waited paitently for this service! so will it be starting to carry passengers soon?

KC61

Probably a couple of months of testing.

rednik

foggy_lad wrote: »

that is great news for the many people living in this area who have waited paitently for this service! so will it be starting to carry passengers soon?

A lot of testing to be carried out before training starts, service should commence Oct/Nov.

JazzyJ

They were running a couple of trams. There were 2 passing each other by just before the Glencairn stop this morning.

RPA saying it should be open in October: http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0715/luas.html

Wibbler

Any word on how the extra passenger demand will be handled when it goes live? I can see this making it difficult for those who get the LUAS from the existing stops closer to town. Most likely peak morning service will see full trams by the time they reach Sandyford.

Zebra3

~€300M for 7.5 km of tram track? :eek:

JazzyJ

Wibbler wrote: »

Any word on how the extra passenger demand will be handled when it goes live? I can see this making it difficult for those who get the LUAS from the existing stops closer to town. Most likely peak morning service will see full trams by the time they reach Sandyford.

I've heard every 3rd tram is going from Cherrywood. Dunno how true it is, but I'm sure they'll be starting a good amount from Sandyford.

KC61

Wibbler wrote: »

Any word on how the extra passenger demand will be handled when it goes live? I can see this making it difficult for those who get the LUAS from the existing stops closer to town. Most likely peak morning service will see full trams by the time they reach Sandyford.

There will have to be a mix of trams starting from Cherrywood and from Sandyford otherwise people at the inner stops would never get on.

Wibbler

KC61 wrote: »

There will have to be a mix of trams starting from Cherrywood and from Sandyford otherwise people at the inner stops would never get on.

Do you know if the frequency will also be increased?

I've seen the hoarding at Sandyford claiming 20 minutes from Brides Glen to Sandyford. That nearly doubles the travel time of the current route. 40 odd minutes to travel the entire length sounds like it beats the alternatives, but I'm kind of surprised just how long it will take.

KC61

Well given it takes 22-24 minutes to get to Sandyford, an extra 16-18 minutes to go out to Brides Glen with 9 operational stops is not that much!

I have no idea what the frequency levels will be - the RPA have not published that yet, but I would imagine as I said above that there will have to be a mix of services to Sandyford and Brides Glen for the line to work.

DubMedic

Piece on RTE News last night showed a part of the test.

http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1076847.

Sulmac

I wonder what way the new fare system will work? Will we see "Green 4" and "Green 5"? Or will they shift some stations on the current line around so we're only given "Green 4"?

markpb

KC61 wrote: »

There will have to be a mix of trams starting from Cherrywood and from Sandyford otherwise people at the inner stops would never get on.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the people getting on further out were working in Sandyford.

GizAGoOfYerGee

That little stick man connecting the lines always cracks me up!

Sulmac wrote: »

KC61

markpb wrote: »

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the people getting on further out were working in Sandyford.

I would not disagree, but I still think you would have to have short workings in the peak to/from Sandyford.

markpb

KC61 wrote: »

I would not disagree, but I still think you would have to have short workings in the peak to/from Sandyford.

No argument from me there. In any event, I doubt the new stops would have enough demand to warrant the same level of service as the core route.

However, I know quite a few people in my office who live along the route extension and currently drive to work. At least some of them are talking about changing to Luas and I hope they do - it would mean three strong routes on that line: SSG - Sandyford, Sandyford & extension to SSG and extension to Sandyford.

astrofool

We'll see a lot of people commuting Tullyvale -> Sandyford ind. est. and Beacon -> Cherrywood ind. est.

I'd imagine to Cherrywood will be Green 4, and the extension to Bray will become Green 5 (although that looks like it's being put on the back burner with the next budget, so could be some years off, they've already been clearing the way apparantly).

Cookie_Monster

I forsee a good bit of traffic to Cherrywood tbh, I work there and the is a coach running back and forth to the Sandyford stop currently to cope with demand.

The flexibility and speed of the luas over the coach will make it even more attractive too.

Transportuser09

I'd imagine KC61 is probably right in guessing there will still be short workings from Sandyford otherwise the trams could be full before they've served half the route. One wonders would the longer distance services run limited stops from Sandyford in to the city with passengers changing for intermediate stops (a bit like how commuter rail interchanges with the Dart). Might be a bit over complicated though.

Run_to_da_hills

Zebra3 wrote: »

~€300M for 7.5 km of tram track? :eek:

I guess its because the line is passing through some of the wealthiest suberbs of South Co Dublin where land wouldn't be the cheapest also there is quite a lot of elivated track and fancy bridgework involved. Its not as if they just plonked 7.5 km of track on the ground.

Point is was it worth it? Will any of the €300M ever be returned?

astrofool

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I guess its because the line is passing through some of the wealthiest suberbs of South Co Dublin where land wouldn't be the cheapest also there is quite a lot of elivated track and fancy bridgework involved. Its not as if they just plonked 7.5 km of track on the ground.

Point is was it worth it? Will any of the €300M ever be returned?

I bet it will pay for itself within 10 years.

homerjay2005

dont see the need for them to cross the m50 2 times, if they went along the side of the m50, they could have saved millions for the sake of about 1km of track.

300 million is crazy money for such a short line....

Rock of Gibraltar

homerjay2005 wrote: »

dont see the need for them to cross the m50 2 times, if they went along the side of the m50, they could have saved millions for the sake of about 1km of track.

300 million is crazy money for such a short line....

Yeah they should have gone down the old alignment, it is almost completely intact. Only about 100 meters of it has housing on it, the old Foxrock station part, which easily could have been bypassed. They would have saved a fortune.

markpb

Rock of Gibraltar wrote: »

Yeah they should have gone down the old alignment, it is almost completely intact. Only about 100 meters of it has housing on it, the old Foxrock station part, which easily could have been bypassed. They would have saved a fortune.

I'm not familiar with the area but wasn't the diversion taken to serve existing developments instead of going through green fields?

Rock of Gibraltar

markpb wrote: »

I'm not familiar with the area but wasn't the diversion taken to serve existing developments instead of going through green fields?

Well the part of the old alignment that is bypassed isn't green fields, its more of the suburbia that the new route goes through.

KC61

Rock of Gibraltar wrote: »

Well the part of the old alignment that is bypassed isn't green fields, its more of the suburbia that the new route goes through.

The housing density along the diverted section is far far higher than that on the old alignment.

The line will benefit far more people by taking the route it does through Leopardstown Valley and Ballyogan.

Run_to_da_hills

Dose anyone know if the trams will run direct to Cherrywood from Stephens green or will the journey be split in two at Sandyford?

KC61

They will run directly through - why would you have split running?

dynamick

Line B1 to open to public in October, if all goes well.
Half the 300m build cost was due to come from developer levies although how much was collected I don't know. The contribution scheme runs until 2028 so anyone applying for permission anywhere along the line will have to pay up during that time.

Line B1 is meant to add 12m trips to Luas "by 2016". We'll see.
12 extra trams are included in the project.
Capacity increase for the existing Line B section through additional trams is part of the project.
Frequency is max every 4mins but meant to be upgradable to every 3mins and trams could be extended to 50m (from 40m) -if the demand arises in future.

This line should make a big difference to people living in the estates off Ballyogan road that were previously served very poorly by Dublin bus for decades.

The project was expected to pay for itself in 7 years.

JazzyJ

They've updated the rpa website with the new map, fares and frequency.

Looks like 7-10 minutes peak hour frequency, 12-15 minutes off-peak.

Map: http://www.rpa.ie/Documents/Luas%20Line%20B1/Documents/B1%20PreLaunch%20Ops%20Info%20August%202010/Luas_Stops_and_Zones_Map_August.pdf

Fares and Frequency: http://www.rpa.ie/Documents/Luas%20Line%20B1/Documents/B1%20PreLaunch%20Ops%20Info%20August%202010/Luas_Cherrywood_Operations_Info_Leaflet_Aug_2010.pdf

Mushy

Just wondering does anyone here know the exact location of where the Cherrywood and/or Brides Glen Luas stops will be? The rpa site has them as north-west/west of Wyattville Road respectively, so I'm more wondering is it between the N11 and M50 at the junction there or will it be other side?

Have to ask as I currently work in dundrum, so get a bus from wicklow to Stillorgan then walk down, but this would be a good alternative.

Hungerford

I am really confused now. The RPA material appears to suggest that you have to change to get into town. That can't be right?

ilovelamp2000

Mushy wrote: »

Just wondering does anyone here know the exact location of where the Cherrywood and/or Brides Glen Luas stops will be? The rpa site has them as north-west/west of Wyattville Road respectively, so I'm more wondering is it between the N11 and M50 at the junction there or will it be other side?

Have to ask as I currently work in dundrum, so get a bus from wicklow to Stillorgan then walk down, but this would be a good alternative.

The Cherrywood one is in between the M50 and N11 near enough to the roundabout.

Saw them test running some carriages out there recently so it can't be far away.

AlekSmart

Great to see this finally getting up and running.

However we really do need to get it together as regards the Fare structure.

€2.80 for a peak standard-single is way too expensive for a Mass Transit journey.
€2.35 for a Smart-Card peak journey is similarly OTT.

Why the RPA get involved with a largely nonsensical 10c Peak vs Non-Peak surcharge is beyond me,just another layer of printed waffle IMO.

Even with today`s sneaky Pre-Paid ticket price increase from Dublin Bus the Travel-90 will still only cost €18.50 giving a per journey fare of €1.85.

If Dublin Bus manage to leave the 145 route untouched then the Fare differential may well become a greater issue than heretofore as the reality of this recession starts to filter on down.

It is long past the stage where the supposed National Transport Authority should have had a much simplified Fare structure in place covering ALL modes of Public Transport in this wee Capital City of ours.

I would suggest that €2 should be the standard cash fare with the pre-paid tickets undercutting that by at least 10% at peak times and by up to 50% off-peak.

However this being the Knowledge Based Economy an`all we are going to make a kind of Public Transport stew by mixing as many differing ingredients as we can find and hoping that it won`t poison us.

This Luas extension is yet again another opportunity which few appear to consider worth embracing....

JazzyJ

Hungerford wrote: »

I am really confused now. The RPA material appears to suggest that you have to change to get into town. That can't be right?

From my reading of it theyre just going through the frequencies in the new section of line. Id say it will work similar to the red line where some trains go to the red cow and some to tallaght.

maclek

This is so full of fail I don't know where to begin. The fact that there are entries for "Future Stop" makes me sad. Just like the empty shells in Sandyford it is huge monument to the the collapse of the Irish economy. Don't get me wrong, it was great that someone finally decided to plan infrastructure before developement, it was just way too late.

Notice also that there isn't a single Park and Ride sign on the entire route. Not even at Cherrywood or Bride's Glen. I know there will be a private P&R there. Then there's the Carrickmines stop. Not only did the P&R there fail to materialize, there isn't even any vehicular access to the stop yet. There is a planning application for a kiss and ride, but that won't happen for a year, if ever.

Maybe that's too gloomy, at least is going to open!

listermint

JazzyJ wrote: »

From my reading of it theyre just going through the frequencies in the new section of line. Id say it will work similar to the red line where some trains go to the red cow and some to tallaght.

All the trams on the red line go city to tallaght?
There is no split.

GerardKeating

listermint wrote: »

All the trams on the red line go city to tallaght?
There is no split.

Some only go City - Red Cow...

dowlingm

maclek - I don't know what you would have made of Toronto's Prince Edward Viaduct then, where a second deck (intended for streetcars) was installed FIFTY years before it was used (for the Bloor-Danforth Subway line).

Around here they call that foresight, crazy loons that they are. Not much of it these days but back in the day they knew how to build stuff.

markpb

As an aside, the RPA page about the Cherrywood extension includes this oddity:

Following the successful pre-operational testing of Luas Line B1, RPA will begin passenger service on the new line through a selected operator.

I always assumed that the contract with Veolia was for all tram lines owned by the RPA - I never thought they'd split it up. It might make sense to tender each line separately but
not different parts of the same line.

Cuddlesworth

Mushy wrote: »

Just wondering does anyone here know the exact location of where the Cherrywood and/or Brides Glen Luas stops will be? The rpa site has them as north-west/west of Wyattville Road respectively, so I'm more wondering is it between the N11 and M50 at the junction there or will it be other side?

Have to ask as I currently work in dundrum, so get a bus from wicklow to Stillorgan then walk down, but this would be a good alternative.

Get off at the Loughlinstown bridge(bridge just after the Shankhill roundabout). Its a three minute walk away at the back of the industrial estate between the N11 and the M50.

Zohan

I was wondering what will happen to the residents parking at Tullyvale when the Luas becomes operational?
I park my car on the road as do another 100 or so people living at Tullyvale. Will there be a residents pass for parking?

larry1

Zohan wrote: »

I was wondering what will happen to the residents parking at Tullyvale when the Luas becomes operational?
I park my car on the road as do another 100 or so people living at Tullyvale. Will there be a residents pass for parking?

No residents association? Have a look at what some of the other areas that will be effected are doing re parking

www.gallops.ie & www.lhra.info

Cheers

Redsoxfan

I wonder will you be able to access the Central Park stop from South County Business Park, i.e. beside the hospital?

There seems to be steps up to the platform, but no obvious access (e.g. a path).

Cuddlesworth

Zohan wrote: »

I was wondering what will happen to the residents parking at Tullyvale when the Luas becomes operational?
I park my car on the road as do another 100 or so people living at Tullyvale. Will there be a residents pass for parking?

The access road off the roundabout? That's a public road with no yellow lines so good luck with that. Tullyvale is a clear example of a apartment complex built with inadequate parking.

Cookie_Monster

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

The access road off the roundabout? That's a public road with no yellow lines so good luck with that. Tullyvale is a clear example of a apartment complex built with inadequate parking.

+1 it going to be a mess. I am going to assume that the Ind estate will start clamping people without a business sticker though, finger crossed, I'd like to be still able to park in the mornings