Luas Finglas

I would imagine the CPOs for the demolition of buildings plus the construction of a park and ride are a big part of the costs.

I think between the emerging preferred route and preferred route stages, if memory serves correct, there was a reduction in the amount of cycle lanes in the project.

I vaguely remember some comments from TII receiving advice about them being outside the scope of the project and wanting to make the planning process more straightforward.

That line was built along an old heavy-rail line so “all” they had to do was lay new tracks. Widening it to add a cycle lane could possibly have involved CPOing gardens from a lot of houses and pushed up the timeframe and budget significantly. I think it would have been worth it, cycle infrastructure in that area is very poor, but sadly it didn’t happen.

Nice video but some very sloppy spelling of the locations captioned along the line.

Extract from non-technical summary:

It is intended that the proposed Scheme will be operational in 2035
(the opening year).
A copy of the draft RO and documentation including the EIAR and
the Natura Impact Statement may be inspected free of charge
during public opening hours from 22th November 2024 until 20th
January 2025 at the following locations:
§ The Offices of An Bord Pleanála, 64 Marlborough Street, Dublin
1, D01 V902;
§ The Offices of Dublin City Council, Civic Offices, Wood Quay,
Dublin 8, D08 RF3F;
§ The Offices of Fingal County Council, County Hall, Main Street,
Swords, County Dublin, K67 X8Y2;
§ Transport Infrastructure Ireland offices at Parkgate Business
Centre, Parkgate Street, Dublin 8, D08 DK10; and
§ National Transport Authority offices at Haymarket House,
Haymarket, Dublin 7, D07 CF98; (9.15am – 4pm Monday to
Friday).
Copies or extracts from the documentation accompanying the
application for the RO may be purchased on payment of a fee not
exceeding the reasonable cost of making such copy or extract from:
§ Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Parkgate Business Centre,
Parkgate Street, Dublin 8, D08 DK10, Ireland
Such purchase requests may be sent to Transport Infrastructure
Ireland, Parkgate Business Centre, Parkgate Street, Dublin 8, D08
DK10 or info@luasfinglas.ie or by calling Freephone 1800 666 888.
The application may also be viewed / downloaded on / from the
following website: www.luasfinglasro.ie from the 15th November 2024.

Would you just have to factor in 2 years for JRs and another 2 years for delays? I mean it's inevitable, so why not just plan for it?

Its not in the current NDP for funding so can't start until after 2030 based on that.

They need to agree a revised NDP to give it an earlier start date.

I think the only reason Luas Finglas went to ABP was to stop a future government cancelling Metrolink and putting the airport link on the end of Luas Finglas.

the NDP is restrictive for major projects above €200m. It provides a fixed strategy that can't be altered easily on a political whim.

Downside is if it can't be easily changed then the likes of planning delays can't be countered to make use of funding available.

Conclusion, fix the planning system so the strategy can be delivered as intended.

I wouldn't worry about the "Opening Year" terminology in the EIAR. They need to pick a somewhat plausible year for doing their environmental modelling. Construction durations in the planning application also tend to lean towards the more pessimistic scenarios as they need to screen, model and mitigate for the slight pessimistic scenarios. They can't get accused of overly optimistic numbers in the planning process underestimating the construction impacts of traffic, noise, dust etc on the local population. They would get skewered by the board if they did that.

Not laughing at it, absolutely a symptom of an utterly broken and under resourced planning system.

Even in some other anglophone countries (not Britain, lol) like Canada there are projects proposed, planned, constructed and in operation in the time since Metrolink and D+ was announced.

Even if things change at ABP and we get ROs delivered within 6 months, a JR should only be available in very exceptional circumstances.
Im not sure if the new planning laws make that happen?