Dublin Metrolink (just Metrolink posts here -see post #1 )

Anyone more eloquent than myself feel like helping me write a letter? That Irish Times NIMBY love in really left a bad taste in the mouth. So far all I have come up with is '' F*#k you and the tram you rode in on'' so might need to tone it down a notch.

jd wrote: »

You might want to take your blood pressure tablets before you read the Sunday Business Post tomorrow.
However, I think the grave dancing by the Senator, Frank McDonald, Rethink Metrolink etc may be a tad premature

Sweet suffering Jesus, these articles will have me developing PTSD.
Sigh, this is why we can't have nice things.

M50Jct15 wrote: »

Those tablets are required for nearly any SBP or Irish Times discussion of transport infrastructure.

Time to up the dosage. The Journal are onboard with a NIMLC (Not in my leisure centre) article to brighten everyones Monday morning.

dublin campaigners-protest-demolition-of-apartment-complex-and-pool-for-metrolink-4508187-Feb2019/ (sorry can't link)

Something tells me we may be still surprised by what the NTA actually announce as their plan.

It has been a strange few days. On Wednesday, the Irish Independent leaked news the green line will be shut for 4 years. The next day The Irish Times leaked news the Southside section is to be scrapped. That’s a lot of activity within 24 hours of leaks. All we know for certain is that Minister Ross met with the relevant authorities and expressed his concern at the Green Line being shut for that period of time.

In the Dail exchange we can see nothing has actually been confirmed. We just have different politicians expressing their views on the project. The time for real debate will be when the NTA announce their plans later in March.

I believe the suggestion of terminating a Metro next to the Green Line at Charlemont will be disastrous. Placing a high speed rail link to the airport at Charlemont will make the Green line an even more attractive option for passengers and will cause loadings to increase dramatically overnight. Whatever about Cherrywood and the other new developments along the green line causing overcrowding, anybody travelling to the Airport along this stretch will now simply use the Luas and Metro (with their suitcases) and why wouldn’t they, it’ll be cheap and quick.

If this rumour is true, a metro train will arrive into Charlemont every 2 minutes. Even if only a quarter of those Metro passengers continued their journey south using Luas at Charlemont, that could place potentially over 100 passengers onto the Charlemont Luas platform every 2-3 minutes. My numbers may be slightly inaccurate depending on the time of day but you get the idea. I’m unsure how this will work.

Adding this amount of passengers to the Luas will mean those in Dundrum will have no space to board each morning. I doubt Minister Ross wants this for his constituents considering the backlash he faced during the capacity problems with Luas Cross City opening. The same problems may soon pile on to TDs in Dublin Bay South.

I look forward to seeing what plans the NTA decide on. They know what the problems and are aware of the capacity issues on the green line. I’m willing to trust their vision and hopeful we may still see a workable solution emerge in March.

jd wrote: »

Editorial and a piece by Una Mullaly in the Irish Times today.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/the-irish-times-view-on-metrolink-back-to-the-drawing-board-1.3804044

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/metrolink-needs-to-coexist-with-dublin-communities-1.3803865

Street running luas, well Una obviously knows her stuff. What a lack wit.

CatInABox wrote: »

I can't read Unas's article, does it actually advocate for street running luas out to the SW? I know the editorial does, which is bad enough in itself, but I'm wary of complaining about a journalist without the facts.

Actually your right I presumed the editorial was her, I couldn’t read the article either as I make a point of not paying for worthless things.

Sam Russell wrote: »

The platforms could be prefabricated and merely installed - it would not take long, perhaps a weekend. They did that new railway bridge at Sallins in a weekend with a mainline railway.

What a time to be alive.

Sam Russell wrote: »

The platforms could be prefabricated and merely installed - it would not take long, perhaps a weekend. They did that new railway bridge at Sallins in a weekend with a mainline railway.

You mean they didn't have to rip up the entire Cork-Dublin line?!! Someone needs to inform the papers that such engineering wonders are indeed possible

One thing that baffles me about Metrolink as a project is that epic controversy was contrived over the Dunville Avenue non-entity, yet not an eyelid seems to have been batted at the proposed closure, and digging up of, East Stephen's Green and North O'Connell st, both of which promise to be for prolonged periods and cause a great deal more disruption than the proposed tie-in at Charlemont.

Maybe the Anti-Irish Times are only worried about certain people in certain places. Perhaps it should just rebrand as the Sandymount Tennis Club Circular.

jvan wrote: »

There is definitely an agenda being pushed by people who don't want high speed, high frequency public transport in their neighbourhoods.

The editorial in today's paper is shocking and shows a real disconnect from the very people who will both benefit from Metrolink and on the flip side have to endure the over crowding on the greenline Luas in the not too distant future.

Having spent the weekend in Holland, I can only dream that we may some day get a train or even public transport network 1/2 as good as theirs although I won't be holding me breathe.

I suspect the people who don’t want such things like our nimbys are everywhere, it’s how they’re dealt with or better yet ignored that’s different.

dubhthach wrote: »

Ironically of course most of people making such comments be it in paper or on likes of Newstalk always say "The Dutch somehow manage to have no traffic problems in Amsterdam..." -- yeah because they actually spend money on providing altenrative infrastructure. There just seems to be general cognitive dissonance with the 'commentariat' in this country when it comes to the reality of how you go about providing proper infrastructure.

Yeah because they are idiots. Should our planning follow the idiots voices? It’s only made a meal out of because it’s ireland. Just build it. Another poster made a valid point, how in gods name do they actually think they can only run it to charlemomont? The amount of new traffic the line will generate and then what ? The new traffic makes the Green line totally unusable?

Its a non runner...

Zebra3 wrote: »

It’s all linked back to a dysfunctional political system.

We have a huge amount of school teachers and other PS employees totally out of their depth, on the gravy train re salary, expenses, and pension.

They are beholden to a system that is very localised for votes even though it’s for the national parliament.

And the crooks will do whatever it takes to stay on that gravy train.

Nail. Hammer. Head!