Schadenfreudia wrote: » At least the levy for the Green Line extension (to Cherrywood) was actually eventually spent to build the extension. I wonder is the cash collected for other projects on a very long finger (Metro West for example) being protected?
However, Tom Manning of the Railway Procurement Agency said the property developers' difficulties had not affected the line's development. "There is a 30-year timeframe for the State to recoup the money, so that could be as many as three or more economic cycles," he said.
An estimated €150 million of the €300 million cost of the Luas Cherrywood extension was to be funded by development levies but much of this has yet to be paid for reasons generally associated with the downturn.
murphaph wrote: » MW has one for sure.
AngryLips wrote: » Possible plans to extend Dart further north as part of DU project
AngryLips wrote: » Looking beyond DU - could we see the underused Phoenix Park Tunnel alignment becoming a possible future Luas line once Dart Underground is built?
Telchak wrote: » As part of what route? Doesn't seem to be any obvious one suited to light rail.
GerardKeating wrote: » Doubt it, it is still in active daily use.
Sam Russell wrote: » In my view, it was one of the daftest decisions that the Luas project made was to go with the UK gauge rather than the Irish one. A similar mistake is going to be made with the BRT design if they go with bendy buses.
L1011 wrote: » Ancient mythology is that it was done on purpose to stop Irish Rail getting their hands on it. It has reduced rolling stock costs too but had definitely cost in flexibility. With Harcourt St. Station mostly empty since Pod closed we could have been looking at a proper reopening of the Harcourt line if it was 1600mm.
Schadenfreudia wrote: » Is the tunnel single track?
Sam Russell wrote: » Even the old Victorian trams were the 1.6m gauge. It made no sense and probably saved very little - given the saving only applied to the rolling stock. It is the same rail, only slightly further apart. Think of the benefit to tourism if we had a few geriatric trams running from Amien St (Connolly) to Kings Bridge (Heuston)? Other countries do this. London still run a few RouteMaster buses on heritage routes.
Markcheese wrote: » Daft question and probably done to death but was there much advantage or saving in going for the slightly narrower gauge ?
SeanW wrote: » Probably made it easier to get "off the shelf" (i.e. less customised) trams from Europe.
Sam Russell wrote: » Again, it only saved on the trams themselves, not any of the infrastructure.