Cork - Light Rail [route options identification and initial design underway]

Most transport systems have some sort of name or branding. Dublin Bus, London Bus, The Enterprise, Eurostar, Glider, RER, etc.

Calling Luas just a tram would have undersold it as it might invoke visions of old fashioned low capacity trams rather then what Luas is, a high capacity, highly segregated modern LRT system.

The Luas brand is incredibly successful and most people in Cork are very excited for it to be coming to Cork, it would be very stupid not to take advantage of this well known and well regarded brand.

For Metrolink, I do think it would be better to call it “Dublin Metro”. I’m sure most people will just end up calling it Metro.

As is said calling it Tram would have been a bad idea as it would have undersold it.

Manchester calls their trams Metrolink, Porto calls their trams Porto Metro, Docklands Light Rail, Sydney Light Rail, etc.

If you went back 20 years, you could maybe argue for Dublin Light Rail, though that would clash with the DLR. I really don’t think calling it a Tram would have at all been a good idea, given Irelands history with older very different tram systems.

Either way Luas is now a very well liked and understood brand and it we be stupid not to reuse it.

Let’s be honest, Cork Luas is being designed by the exact same folks at TII who design Luas In Dublin, it will use the same vehicles, same track gauge, power systems, signalling, ticketing, etc. It is Luas’

It would be silly and stinks of insecurity to want to call it something else just because it is in Cork!

CACR is probably better one to focus on and come up with a better name for.

So you are saying Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt aren’t “worth their salt”!

They all have S-Bahn, U-Bahn, Stadtbahn. Berlin S-Bahn, Munich S-Bahn, etc. just like Cork Luas.

Colour names can be great as they can match the colour of the line on the map and it can use the same colours on the signs, platforms, vehicles, etc.

and no it isn’t an issue for colour blind people as long as you also use the name “Red”, “Green”, etc.

Of course as Kris says the downside is that you can run out of colours for bigger systems.

I like the DART+ approach too, D+North, South, West, etc. as it gives an idea of the area of the city it covers. Though I don’t know if they plan to use that for the official line names, rather then just projects.

I’m not a fan of a simple number, it doesn’t tell you much about the line.

I’m also not a fan of systems that use one brand for all services, that is how you end up with buses called “Metro”!

I think it is useful to differentiate between different type of services.

BTW behind the scenes Luas actually calls the Lines Luas Line C, C1, etc. of course now that also clashes with BusConnects.

BTW apparently there is an exemption for brand names in the Irish Language Act. They don’t have to be translated to Irish.

No we shouldn’t, it is a very dumb idea.

People in Cork have been campaigning to bring Luas to Cork for years. Despite the NIMBYs many Corkonians are excited at the idea of bringing Luas to Cork finally.

If you go renaming it to something like Cork Light Rail, you risk people thinking they are getting something different from Luas, perhaps something worse then Luas. You will get less informed members saying things like “aren’t we good enough for Luas”.

Luas is a very successful service and is a very well known and liked brand name. It would be very stupid not to continue to use it across the country.

Just like the people of Hamburg wanted an S-Bahn of their own (second one after Berlin that created the term), the people of Cork want a Luas of their own.