Luas
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Luas (Irish for 'speed'), also promoted in the development stage as the Dublin Light Rail System, currently encompasses two unconnected on-street light rail lines in Dublin, Ireland. It is one of 450 light rail systems operating in cities around the world.
Originally under the organisation of Córas Iompair Éireann, the project was moved to the Railway Procurement Agency upon that body's inception, while it is operated by Veolia Transport Ireland (formerly known as Connex). The system is also often called a tram network. The Luas is a major part of the Dublin Transportation Office's strategy (2000-2016).[1] It is estimated that around 80,000 people use the Luas daily; and, as of November 2006, over 50 million journeys have been made on the system. [1]
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[edit] Operation
Services commenced on the Green Line on Wednesday 30 June 2004, with free fares for the first five days of operation. The Red Line opened on 28 September 2004, almost a month behind schedule. It remains to be seen whether the Luas will prove effective in combating Dublin's traffic congestion problems.
The Red and Green Lines are separate lines, with separate depots and facilities, and fixed allocations of trams; there is no simple method to transfer trams between the two lines.
[edit] Viability
Luas daily passenger use rose to 80,000 by November 2006. Luas operates without a State subvention. The service recorded a surplus of €985,000 (€680,000 in 2004) - an achievement well ahead of an anticipated deficit of €2.5 million.[2]
[edit] Network
The system runs off a 750 V DC overhead power supply, and one two-unit tram can carry 235 people. The international standard rail gauge of 1435mm (4' 8½") is used, rather than the Irish 1,600mm (5' 3").
The system was built comprising two lines:
- Red Line (Line A): Connolly Station to Tallaght
- Green Line (Line B): St. Stephen's Green to Sandyford
In the original plans, the Red Line was divided into Line A from Tallaght to Abbey Street and Line C from Abbey Street to Connolly Station, whilst Line B was the alternative name for the Green Line. This terminology, which split the network into three lines, is not currently used. Early reports also discussed a Line D from Broadstone to Ballymun and Dublin Airport and an underground Line E from St Stephen's Green to Broadstone - these would have formed a third line, from St Stephen's Green to Dublin Airport. However no firm details were set, though several proposed routes were investigated with a completion date of 2005 envisioned at the time. (One early configuration of the proposed route to Ballymun had a road-bound alignment following Drumcondra Road, Collins Avenue Extension and Ballymun Road.)
The Red Line runs in an east-west direction through Dublin's Northside, then crosses the Liffey and travels south-west to the suburb of Tallaght. The Green Line is entirely in Dublin's Southside. Apart from the city-centre section, where it runs down Harcourt Street to St. Stephen's Green, it follows the route of the old Harcourt Street railway line, which was reserved for possible re-use when it closed in 1958. The Red Line and Green Line are not connected to each other, with a 15 minute walk between the two closest points. Services run at regular intervals, from every five minutes during peak times to every 15 minutes late at night. The last tram leaves the terminus at 00:30 (23:30 on Sundays and public holidays).
[edit] Features
The sleek silver Citadis trams, manufactured in La Rochelle by Alstom, reach a top speed of 70 km/h on off-road sections, but travel at a slower speed where conflicts with other vehicles or pedestrians can occur. Red Line trams, at 30m with a capacity of 235, are shorter than the 40m Green Line trams, which have a capacity 358 including two wheelchairs.
In other aspects, the two lines are identical except that the clearance between the lines on the Green Line is slightly wider than on the Red Line. Note that this does not relate to the track gauge, 4' 8.5", which is identical on both lines, contrary to an urban myth which has gained wide currency in Dublin. This will allow wider metro trains be run on the same tracks if a proposed upgrade to full metro service is implemented. This is possible because the route uses an old railway line and as such has few interactions with vehicular or pedestrian traffic. The Red Line was constructed largely on or beside public roads and is not suited to wider and faster metro trains. However both existing sets of tramcars are fully compatible with both the Red and the Green Lines.
The main engineering structures on the Green Line at present are Milltown Viaduct, also known as The Nine Arches, a large stone viaduct dating from 1854, and the William Dargan Bridge, a large new cable-stayed suspension bridge at Taney Cross, near Dundrum town centre
[edit] Future
The Transport 21 plan[3] covering the period 2005-2015 announced by the Minister for Transport on 1 November 2005 envisages the following Luas line extensions:
- 2008
- Line C1 – Connolly to Docklands extension (Red Line) - The Report of Public Inquiry recommended that this 1.7 km extension proceed subject to certain conditions concerning effective risk management to avoid potential services disruption. The extension will run along Mayor St, Upper and Lower. There will be 4 stops: George's Dock, Mayor Square, Spencer Dock serving the proposed new train station and terminating at the Point Depot.[4]
- Line BX – City Centre link for Red and Green Lines. The route has not yet been decided.
- 2010
- Line A1 – Tallaght to Citywest link (Subject to developer contribution).
- Line B1 – Sandyford to Cherrywood extension (Green Line) - This is to proceed following the conclusion and recommendations of an Inquiry. This line maybe converted to a metro at a later stage.
- 2012
- 2013
- Line F – City Centre to Lucan. Possibly linking with Metro West.
- 2015
- Line B2 – Cherrywood to Bray environs extension (Green Line).
For the very distant future there have been proposals to link the Red and Green Lines via the southern suburbs of Dublin. This idea involves routing the Luas from Tallaght through Firhouse and Knocklyon and Ballinteer, then to Dundrum or perhaps Sandyford. There is sufficient space for such a tram line alongside the M50 motorway, which runs more or less along this route.
[edit] Criticism
The Luas system is very popular with commuters, being seen as clean, dependable and reasonably good value. Nevertheless, there has been some criticism of the system and its pre-operational organisation.
Though the construction exceeded its budget, costing over €700 million, there were several delays and modifications throughout its construction. There were significant costs associated with building two physically separate tram lines at the same time. For instance, whereas one depot would ordinarily be used, two were constructed.
During the construction of both lines many commentators wrongly believed that that the lines were not being built to a standard 1435mm (4' 8½") gauge. However, this arose from a misunderstanding of the requirements for upgrading the Green Line to metro standard. The Green line has been built to metro standard which requires that the centre-to-centre distance between the tracks is greater than for normal LRT track. The Red Line, which is not scheduled to be upgraded to metro standard has the normal LRT centre-to-centre distances. Both lines are incompatible with existing rail systems in Ireland, which use broad (1,600mm or 5' 3") gauge. While the Luas does not need to be interoperable with heavy rail, any future Metro system can only be made compatible with either Luas or heavy rail, not both. Critics also claimed that the 30m red line trams could not run on green line tracks, "as they were not the same gauge". Their claims were proven wrong in late 2004 when a 30m red line tram from the red line, number 3002, was transferred onto the green line. It ran in service with 40m trams, albeit with much overcrowing and frustration amongst passengers, who didn't understand why the tram was so short. 3002 later returned to the red line 3 months later.
There was considerable disruption to traffic during construction work. Businesses also suffered immensely because of the disruption and visitors to the city were inconvenienced. However, the Green Line has already proven extremely popular, bringing many more visitors into the city centre, and carrying a reported 700,000 passengers in its first month of operation. The Red Line is subject to similar usage despite being serviced by a larger number of (albeit shorter) trams. Plans have been announced to upgrade Red Line trams to 40m as the platforms are already built for 40m trams. The green line trams cannot be lengthened any more than 40m as the platforms are only built to accommodate 40m trams.
Within hours of starting service, a Luas tram had collided with a car on Harcourt Street, while near-collisions were an occasional problem as of August 2004. A second collision with a car was reported on the Red Line at the end of August 2004 during final testing prior to the public launch. However, in all cases of Luas/road vehicle collisions the fault has been with the driver of the car or van trying to ‘beat’ the tram at a junction. September 2004 also witnessed the first collision between two Luas trams, at the crossover at the St. Stephens Green terminus.
The price of tickets has also been criticised, with a minimum fare of €1.40 being charged for an adult single journey within a single zone. Unlike other public transport in Dublin, where tickets must be shown every time you use the service, the Luas relies on ticket inspections. While originally about one journey in every three was subject to inspection, it is now more likely to be one in ten. At present it is possible to buy a ticket from a point on the Green Line to a point on the Red Line, but it is only possible to make such a journey by walking between St. Stephen's Green (current terminus of the Green Line) and Abbey or Jervis stops (on the Red Line) because the two lines are not connected.
In January 2006, it was disclosed that faults have been found with the Luas tracks which could lead to excessive widening between rails, particularly on trains carrying a full load of passengers. Initial assessments from the RPA say that less than 5% of track will require remediation to eliminate the risk of any significant long-term deterioration. The repair work is expected to cost upwards of €10M, however this cost must be borne by the contractor who built the system and they must also provide a replacement bus service whilst these works are taking place, after peak hours. The RPA claims the work will not cause significant disruptions to service.
There is also a serious issue with value for money. Some estimates of the cost of the system range much higher than €700 million. One transport economist has reckoned that each passenger journey costs the taxpayer €6 (apart from and on top of the fare charged to the passenger). The figures exclude the colossal cost to the business community caused by business disruption during the construction period. Some commentators have criticised the expenditure as offering poor value for money. The resources might have been far better invested in creating an excellent bus system for the city, in place of the much-criticised service that exists currently. It is arguable, however, that only a dedicated busway with the same restrictions on other road users as Luas or rail could approach a tramway in providing the level of service comparable to that of a fixed track system. These arguments also presume that traffic congestion has no cost to the economy.
Perhaps the most serious criticism of the LUAS has been there from the beginning; the predictable inadequacy of the system to deal with the volume of demand. This is particularly the case on the Green Line. Morning peak time (7.30am to 8.45am) intervals between trams had decreased from five minutes to four minutes by October 2006, but city-bound trams are often quite full by the time they reach Milltown (the seventh last stop on the system), and it is common for many intending passengers to be unable to board from that point onward. Very few intending passengers even turn up to attempt to secure passage at the remaining stations during the morning peak. The obvious solution would be to increase the frequency of trams still further. However, Garret Fitzgerald (former Taoiseach and perhaps the most trenchant critic of the LUAS) has pointed out that the system was configured from the beginning to accommodate only fifteen trams per hour, so it will not be possible to increase the frequency any more. It remains to be seen how the system will cope when it is extended to Cherrywood.
[edit] Trivia
As with all Dublin fittings and fixtures (see Irish statues and their nicknames), attempts have been made to give the Luas an alternative name: the Jerry Lee, the walz, the Joe and the Daniel Day, and, for the more literate folk, the CS (because of the similarity in pronunciation of 'Luas' to 'Lewis'), the Jacks on the Tracks, the Train in The Lane, and the Snail on the Rail have been suggested, but such names are not (as of October 2006) popular and would not be immediately recognised by Dubliners.
[edit] Smartcard
In March 2005 the Luas smartcard was launched. This allows travellers to pay for travel on the Luas network but only cash payments (at the ticket machines) are possible. Credit is pre-loaded onto the smartcard and the customer must validate the card on the platform before boarding the tram and then again after exiting the tram. This is referred to as 'tag-on' and 'tag-off'.
A smartcard can be purchased at a Luas ticket agent or online [2]. The card costs €10, which includes a €3 non-refundable charge for the card, €3 of credit and €4 for a fully refundable 'reserve fund' which allows you to travel even if there is insufficient credit on the card for the journey. However, the card must then be topped up before another journey can be taken.
When using the smartcard for a single (one-way) journey, fares are set to half the cost of a standard return fare. On the Green Line, the standard return fare through three zones is €3.80, so a single journey using the smartcard costs €1.90. Since a standard single fare is €2, the smartcard allows the user slightly cheaper fares for single journeys.
The Smartcard project is part of the Railway Procurement Agency's integrated ticketing system, which, when completed, should allow travellers to use the one card to pay for travel on all public transport in Ireland.
[edit] References
- ^ Dublin Transportation Office strategy (2000-2016)
- ^ Railway Procurement Agency, 2005 Annual Report
- ^ Government launches €34bn '21st century transport plan for 21st century Ireland' FinFacts Ireland website article 1 November 2005.
- ^ Inquiry backs extension of Luas Red Line - The Irish Times newspaper article, August 7 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Luas
- Luas Smartcard
- Photos of LUAS Green line(Harcourt Street)
- Platform 11 Ireland's National Rail Users Group
