LUAS Network + Future Expansion

I can’t find it now, but I think that the MetroLink drawings showed the necessary points in place to allow South West services at Glasnevin to run along the canal line.

That link is not present right now, and there’s a building in the way, but that building is marked as “for demolition” on the DART+ plans, so there’s obviously some future plan to allow this movement. It wouldn’t need a Railway Order.

My memory isn't great but wasn't there a plan at some stage to have a fully grade-separated junction to the west of Cross Guns to allow conflict-free movements between both up and down lines? I've a feeling it got dropped somewhere along the way in getting to DART+.

What I could see happening long term is perhaps them upgrading the single track section from the Royal Canal into Connolly and other junction works that would be needed at Connolly.

I'd be surprised if this was considered given Connolly and the loop line will be at capacity with DART+. Even if not, it would cause a conflict nightmare. To get to a terminating platform would require crossing the coastal DART through-lines. Connolly is a mess as it is - great video about it here.

And why bother anyway - like the proposal to build a canal-side station at Drumcondra, I see no operational or service advantages? All W or SW trains can go via Drumcondra if the want to go to Connolly or GCD.

I expect the canal line will be used only for "express" services to Spencer Dock.

A new north inner city station would be far better located on the Drumcondra line to the East - maybe between North Strand rd and Ballybough Rd if the curvature would allow it. This would provide much better selection of destinations/services for passengers and expand geographic coverage instead of building a station 150m from an existing one but with far fewer services.

I can't believe after all these years, yer man is still here turning every thread into Drumcondra Dart station interchange

What is likley to be the next LUAS designed annd sent to ABP, after the Finglas extension gets RO? Lucan?

the decades roll by and we just keep bolting new extensions onto existing lines. Will any of us live to see an actual new line I wonder?

Can't comment on likelihood, but if you look at the current map, the largest area not served by any rail (light or otherwise) is SW Dublin, the triangle between the City, Tallaght (Red Line) and Sandyford (Green Line). The proposed map shows two lines there; one via Harold's Cross & Kimmage to Clondalkin, the other from Charlemont via Rathmines & Terenure to Tallaght. Terenure in particular is a traffic black spot that (in my opinion) badly needs something done, but a Kimmage connection may be less problematic to build.

I probably know the answer to this but I’ll ask it anyway- why can’t we progress two or (preferably) more Luas lines/extensions, to detailed design and submitted to ABP, at the same time?
Why does everything have to be consecutively as opposed to concurrently?

Long term, I’d like to see Luas mostly replacing bus within the city centre, moving towards the kind of model in place in Melbourne, where the majority of city-centre movements on PT are carried by trams. A denser network of shorter lines would greatly increase mobility around Dublin itself. Those lines will be on-street, and sometimes will need stops in tight spaces, but even a short 25 m tram holds twice the number of people as a double-decker bus - Dublin has far too many buses running through its centre.

Shorter term, the Lucan line needs to be built, and especially as a separate parallel south-side East-west route in the city to take strain off Red Line.

To prepare for this, there should be a standing policy that any roadworks on bus corridors should include evaluation of moving services to facilitate a future tram line: the disruption of luas wasn't in laying the tracks, it was in moving the pipes and ducts from under those tracks.

Even the red line is probably closer to pre metro than most modern tram lines, outside of a couple of annoying suburban junctions and the city core it has a dedicated right of way.

Basically we built trams on the two corridors that had we not cheaped out could have been fairly easy win metros and as a result all the 'real' tram lines we might build subsequently will be unfavourably compared to them.

I have to agree about the Luas to Lucan even though it would probably be of the most benefit to me of any potential new lines in Dublin.

The bus to Lucan is pretty fast as it is as it can take the N4 most of the way. The section of it that is imperative I think is the alternative city east west city centre section in order to take pressure off the Red Line from James to the Point.

The section as far as Liffey Valley would also be very useful as that doesn't benefit from the N4 bus corridor. Maybe if you're building it as far as there you're as well doing the whole thing though.

Most of the tram services which share road space were not built within the last 30 years. Newer, modern trams (London Trams for example) run alongside roads, may interact with traffic in parts, but largely maintain priority in their own lane.

Building Tram Lines which have share with private traffic(cars) in 2025 is silly IMHO. Its different when you have existing tram systems which have been there for decades, theres a degree of sunk cost. Building brand new infrastructure has different cost considerations, and we should at least attempt to do it right the first time, rather than make up for and have to work around poor design decisions.