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

paddar wrote: »

One senator apparently has a back garden the backs out onto the line. Said senator recently published a widely quoted opinion piece in SBP trashing the project and plucking 2-4 years closure time from space. They have also made the same claims in the Seanad.

Dude must of never heard of the Streisand effect, I know who's back wall I will be rubbernecking over next time I am passing by.

The time line conveniently quoted is a joke. It would be for a matter of months tops I reckon , because it wouldn’t be feasible otherwise...

I’m delighted for them. They are going to have trams / metro running past their back garden nearly every minute on average at peak time! Lol

paddar wrote: »

One senator apparently has a back garden the backs out onto the line. Said senator recently published a widely quoted opinion piece in SBP trashing the project and plucking 2-4 years closure time from space. They have also made the same claims in the Seanad.

The front corner of a house he owns (as landlord) touches the track boundary.

Shedite27 wrote: »

McDowell owns 9 Manders Terrace in Ranalagh (see page 27), which is only a meter or two from the track (you can see house number 9 in the bottom right of the image below). The new platform essentially goes right up to his living room window.

Shedite27 wrote: »

The front corner of a house he owns (as landlord) touches the track boundary.

I wonder to Sunday Business Post know (or care) when he penned that opinion piece? It's a pretty big conflict of interest. He has been pretty much pushing the cancelation/rerouting of the Southside section since last year.

I think it will be a great boon for houses near existing green luas.

25 minutes to the airport? 5 minutes to change to the DART line? Direct change to the Sligo and Maynooth trains?

It also gets rid of the serious safely problems the Luas brings.

What’s not to like really.

Few questions, when are NTA going to announce new proposed route for upgrade to Green Line?

Would someone please clarify exactly what does an upgrade on the Green Line entail? I get the proposal to connect onto Metro North under any forward thinking planning process but am I right in saying that upgrades on existing Green Line route is for tracks to be raised/ higher platforms which will allow for higher frequency departure of Luas's from Sandyford due to quicker departure times with less delays from eradication of level-crossings along the whole route , then boosted by high speed rail transport once it goes underground, with way less bottleneck before getting to this point in the changeover, therefore reducing the journey time on existing route massively, is
that right? I. E No tunnelling will take place on any existing route on Green Line?

Finally, where is the proposed underground section due to take affect.. Is that after Charlemont / beginning of the new Metro North line which will link into new Green line? If someone could give a lowdown on proposed upgrading of Green Line in context of improvements it will bring it would be most appreciated.

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

I think it will be a great boon for houses near existing green luas.

25 minutes to the airport? 5 minutes to change to the DART line? Direct change to the Sligo and Maynooth trains?

It also gets rid of the serious safely problems the Luas brings.

What’s not to like really.

Immaterial to elderly BMW driving people who see PT as beneath them.

They’d rather their own little world and sitting in a traffic jam than being too close to a prole or two.

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.

The team working on the Amsterdam Noord metro line really struggled on the project, lots of nimbyism then there was subsidence issues, project costs doubled. Complete PR disaster.

WoollyRedHat wrote: »

Few questions, when are NTA going to announce new proposed route for upgrade to Green Line?

Would someone please clarify exactly what does an upgrade on the Green Line entail? I get the proposal to connect onto Metro North under any forward thinking planning process but am I right in saying that upgrades on existing Green Line route is for tracks to be raised/ higher platforms which will allow for higher frequency departure of Luas's from Sandyford due to quicker departure times with less delays from eradication of level-crossings along the whole route , then boosted by high speed rail transport once it goes underground, with way less bottleneck before getting to this point in the changeover, therefore reducing the journey time on existing route massively, is
that right? I. E No tunnelling will take place on any existing route on Green Line?

Finally, where is the proposed underground section due to take affect.. Is that after Charlemont / beginning of the new Metro North line which will link into new Green line? If someone could give a lowdown on proposed upgrading of Green Line in context of improvements it will bring it would be most appreciated.

The announcement of updated preferred route is due sometime in March.

The plan as it stands is basically that the current Green LUAS line will be split in two. One leg would run from Broombridge to Charlemont, the second from Sandyford to Brides Glen.

The new Metrolink line would run from Swords to Sandyford, taking over operations on the section of the current Green Line between Charlemont and Sandyford.

Metrolink will operate longer trains at a higher frequency than the current Green Line schedule.

The upgrade to Metro as far as we can tell includes:
* New longer rolling stock - possibly automatically driven
* New signalling and control system (scale of this depends on method of operation)
* Removal of all crossings on the line between Sandyford and Charlemont (which is proving somewhat contentious in D6), including a new bridge and elevated stop at Stillorgan
* Increase in frequency
* Platform screens to prevent people crossing the tracks
* Platform lengthening and potentially raising depending on type of rolling stock used
* Potentially an upgraded power supply requiring additional sub-stations - whether this has implications for the overhead catenary is unclear
* Currently the plan has the Metrolink surfacing due south of Charlemont where the line would take over the operations of the current Green Line between Charlemont and Sandyford.

I don’t think you’ll see any real difference in journey times between Sandyford and Charlemont but the underground section north from there will see seriously improved journey times.

No tunnelling along the line apart from just before Charlemont heading north.

All of this is available from www.metrolink.ie

Now we are awaiting publication of the revised emerging preferred route for Metrolink following the initial public consultation.

This may impact on where Metrolink surfaces south of Charlemont.

At the moment there are all sorts of rumours being published based on leaks. The truth is none of us actually know what is planned.

Obviously some of the Green Line between Charlemont and Sandyford will have to close to facilitate the upgrade works. The length of closure will differ along this section of the line depending on the nature of the work required (crossing elimination, power upgrades, platform work) but the longest closure will be where the new connection is finally located between the underground section and the existing Green Line.

The closure periods will depend on all of the issues above - we have yet to get clarification of how long they could be. The media have published various estimates but none have explained the context behind them which is vital to understand the plan.

So we await publication of the plans in March. That about sums it up.

Having recently (well last October) used the Amsterdam Noord-Zuidlijn metro line I can say that it was a great service and really helped getting around Amsterdam, I doubt thought ye have an opinion piece in SBP talking about how much it ran over budget (40%) and that it took 16 years to complete! I remember been in Amsterdam with Dutch colleague back in 2012 and at that time they thought it was mad how long it was going on (it took another 6 years to finish!).

cgcsb wrote: »

when it's finished and operational the disruption and cost is quickly forgotten. Same here, nobody remembers being opposed to luas or moaning about it.

That’s the thing, the luas is wildly popular and people who use it generally love it (not the crowding but the speed and ease) I’m not near enough to use very often but I have friends very close to it so use it a bit. I’d sell my firstborn for a luas or metro walking distance of my house.

I'm assuming the Luas extension to Bray is dependent on the Green line been upgrade to Metro standard to Sandyford. It's interesting that the detractors like McDonald moaning about a 'fragment of green line to Brides Glen' conviently ignore that the plan is that there would be Luas from Bray to Sandyford

Grassy Knoll wrote: »

As you approach town the Metrolink would go underground after it crosses the canal at Charlemont and head for the Loreto / Shelbourne side of the Green rather than the Stephens Green shopping centre one. Bizarrely the green line luas "nua" would travel from Charlemont (at the canal) along Harcourt St, etc paralleling the new Metro - illustrative of the wasteful piecemeal approach to infrastructure provision if you ask me.

That is a good point; there will be somewhat of a duplication until the top of O'Connell Street but they'll diverge completely from that point on. I suppose people coming from the north would stay on rather than transfer. The Metro could affect numbers getting on at Charlemont? I suppose planners are somewhat hamstrung by the old, irregular layout of the city too plus even in the most well planned of transport systems there will be some duplication in the dense core area.

I think the ML design is very cleaver in that it avoids duplication a lot more than the metro north route. Someone heading from Broombridge to Charlemont for example, they can skip the slowest part of the luas by changing onto the metro at Parnell/O'Connell Upper and getting off at Charlemont. Similarly someone heading from Dundrum to Broombridge can do the reverse transfer and save themselves the slow Charlemont-Parnell Section. The rump green line then serves shorter distance journeys. On street trams aren't suitable as bulk transport from distant suburbs anyway.

Well it doesn't have to be a 'rump' line forever - there's a number of directions and points at which it could be spurred off to new destinations (one crayon route I had was you could send it down Adelaide Road > Wilton Terrace > Herbert Place > Grand Canal Street > Bath Avenue > Irishtown and the Glass Bottle development zone).