Luas Finglas

I don’t think Copenhagen is anywhere near as reliant on buses as Dublin is.

They have a suburban train network and two metro lines which are excellent.

Buses feed in to them and bikes aren’t an issue on the suburban trains any time.

Sitting on a bus for an hour in the Copenhagen area is an absolutely rarity unlike here.

But it’s definitely a city worth contrasting Dublin with.

The huge benefit of an east-west heavy rail option over metro is that you get a massive multiplier effect on the existing infrastructure. You multiply its value enormously and can add huge capacity because you are no longer terminating at Heuston or Connolly. You are also bring people into the core city centre quickly. That's why several cities have built Interconnectors that connect their disparate heavy rail lines, of one sort or another.

Should we build more Luas, absolutely. Should we build a Luas that pretty much parallels a heavy rail route rather than diverting those funds to an Interconnector, no, not in my opinion. Everyone can choose their poison though. I always thought we we making a huge mistake by stalling on the Interconnector and the exact route to me was immaterial as long as it allowed through-running and there was decent interchange between the two branches of the planned X. Tara, Pearse, whatever. The fact the northern line is looking like it will be quad tracked adds a further reason to connect it to the Kildare route witha direct tunnel under the city centre. There could be a 3 minute headway at peak times which would be hard to saturate, even with dozens of perpendicular feeder buses into the two lines. Remember when the DART originally opened the DART Feeder buses were an integral part of the system. They should be once again but you need the capacity to be pushing bus loads of people into the DART network.

Anyway I think I have gone off topic enough here in this Finglas Luas thread, a project I support as it offers the people of Finglas a quick connection to the heavy rail network at Broombridge and runs largely on its own dedicated alignment. It's a perfect application of Luas to me.

The Finglas Luas line is one step closer as a railway order application has been submitted to An Bord Pleanala.

That and how Broombridge is getting reconfigured to allow the luas to cross the railway are, I believe, the biggest two.

I'd say the bridge over the rail line and canal while doing a 90 degree turn and gaining significant height over a short distance will be a much bigger challenge

The Tolka is barely more than a stream where they're presumably crossing it

https://maps.app.goo.gl/4Hef5bkt58Khc2GL6?g_st=ac

If metrolink happens, what are its expected hours of operation?

Yeah im surprised they are not just running it over the existing Quaternion bridge…that section seems like its being way over engineered and i wouldn't be surpirsed if the cost of that alone runs into the hundreds of millions.

Flyover of the route

The amount of grassed-over tracks on the route - nearly its entirety is amazing! Flyover looks amazing and really helpful to see it all visualised

Thanks for the link.

I said it at the time of planning, but the distance to the first stop (1.3km to St Helena's) is very long, especially given the plans to redevelop the industrial estate. The gap feels even longer when you see it on video.

For comparison, the distance between stops in the Docklands is 400-500m and about 500-600m in the Carrickmines area.

Hopefully a future stop can be added near the park once the redevelopment of the area really kicks off.

Looks good. The one missed opportunity I feel, and I said it years ago during the consultations, is not bridging over the Finglas bypass at the end of Mellows Park, where the roundabout is now. Not having to cross such a busy road at grade would be a good help.

The P&R is visible but vehicle access/egress not shown. Doesn't look very convenient for users getting to/from the station.

Yeah, fully agree. A Luas stop in the park is probably not going to happen, but would be useful for people who live along Tolka Valley Road, even down at Scribblestown.

Large amount of at grade junctions... also could they not put cycle tracks along the length of it ?