LUAS Network + Future Expansion

I definitely understand this and agree with what you’re saying, I was just enquiring about the existing Connolly to Heuston shuttles. As they are already taking up a city centre path, would it not make more sense to continue them out beyond Heuston…? I could be missing something glaringly obvious, but just wondering…

Very much agree with the speed and general better priority at junctions, an easy and obvious fix, but disagree strongly however with the stop-spacing, as another user mentioned, it is a tram and not a metro and so frequent stops, especially in the actual centre of the city is very important.

I also see what you mean about the quays, it would have been nice with the original Red Line plans, but realistically it’s too close to the current Red Line to make it anyway feasible for another east-west alignment. I think a Fatima - Cork St - Kevin St - Cuffe St (and beyond to Ringsend, via ideally an ML and DART link) route through the south city centre is the best option in terms of opening up the most parts of the city for rail-based-PT while not encroaching on the Red Line or DART Underground

And again while this is true, another north- south tram alignment would be great, if only for opening up route flexibility. A route from Clanbrassil St - Patrick St (new EW line link) - Church St (RL link at Four Courts) - Constitution Hill (GL link at Broadstone) and beyond, or Dolphin’s Barn St - Cork St (new EW line link) - Marrowbone Lane - Bridgefoot St - Mellowes Bridge - Queen St (RL link at Smithfield) - Brunswick St/North King St - Constitution Hill (GL link at Broadstone) and beyond would be two great options for a new line and could help with cross city routes from the southwest and south to the north, northwest and northeast. Just my own thoughts though but I think that at least 2 north-south and two east-west alignments would be required for a fantastic city centre tram network

I think there’s no way around it, DART Underground NEEDS to happen, it’s not about getting people from Heuston to the city centre, or taking pressure off the Red Line, it’s about maximising the capacity and usability of the Northern Line and the Kildare Line - the two only fully grade separated (and hopefully soon enough, quad-tracked, and therefore IC-and-stopping-service-separated) lines in the country to create a near Metro style DART service, and no Lucan - Ringsend metro or east-west Luas line can ever achieve anywhere near this.

This is not in any way to say however that we don’t need more east-west Luas alignments, the fact is we needed them 20 years ago. In an ideal world, the Red Line would be cut and covered between the Aishling Hotel and George’s Dock, but I fear this is unlikely to happen.

Separating the city centre section with the Naas Road and beyond sections of the Red Line and converting the latter to metro, while a nice idea, is unfortunately also very unlikely, and not a fantastic plan overall. The line is rather unsuitable, with a great number of graded heavy intersections and tight turns. I agree though that a capacity and frequency upgrade is needed on this line, and while extra trams in this outer section is very feasible, this becomes much more of an issue when they reach the city centre.

I like the ideas of having 3 separate lines for the 3 separate routes - Red Line, Lucan Line and possible future Blanchardstown Line but I think a line down the quay is the wrong idea. A better solution would be a line down Cork/Kevin/Cuffe Street, and another down Thomas/Dame Street. This has the same effect but opens up far more areas to Luas than a line down the quay which would be only 150m away from the Red Line at most, while also keeping a very equal spacing between the 3 lines - about 500m to 750m. I know that the idea is not to increase catchment but rather capacity, but I think there’s no harm at all in having extra city centre tram access, especially to places like Temple Bar, Christchurch and St Patrick’s.

Going back to the Red Line city centre capacity, I believe DART Underground plays a critical part in this. Once open, it will become the primary desired way to get from the city centre to Heuston and therefore will alleviate huge pressure off the Red Line in the city centre. While not a full solution to the need for extra trams, it will certainly hugely improve tram capacity for people in these suburbs who’s trams home won’t be packed with Heuston commuters who will all instead be on DU hopefully. This combined with better priority for Luas at junctions in the city centre, and maybe sending some Red Line trams down either of the other 2 city centre routes which may be quieter, would really make a great difference to the feel of the Red Line in the suburbs and city centre.

Tram length on the Red Line could very easily be increased to Green Line levels too, as outside the city centre there is plenty of space to increase platforms. Within the city centre there isn’t however, so the Red Line would need to use the new south city route (which could be built brand new from the start with increased length platforms) instead of the Lucan Line which would use the city centre portion of the current Red Line - Luas Lucan follows a route through much less dense suburbs than the Red Line so could easily survive with shorter platforms.