Luas (from the Irish for 'speed') — also promoted in the development stage as the Dublin Light Rail System — currently encompasses two unconnected on-street light rail transit systems in Dublin, Ireland. Originally under the organisation of Córas Iompair Éireann, the project was moved to the Railway Procurement Agency upon that body's inception, whilst it is operated by Connex. The Luas is a major part of the Dublin Transportation Office [1] 'DTO strategy (2000-2016)'.
Operation
Services commenced on the "Green Line" on Wednesday 30th June 2004, with free fares to all for the first five days of operation. The "Red Line" opened on 28th September 2004, almost a month or so 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, in effect, wholly separate tram systems, with separate depots and facilities, and fixed allocations of trams; there is no simple method to transfer trams between the two lines.
Network
The system runs off a 750 volt DC overhead power supply, and one two-carriage tram can carry 235 people. The standard European rail gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ ins) is being used rather than the Irish gauge of 1,600 mm (5 ft 3 ins). There is no truth in the commonly-held notion that the Green Line and the Red Line run on different gauges, this would appear to stem from some other differences in the two lines.
The system was built comprising two lines:
In the original plans, the Red Line was subdivided 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, are not current 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 - this 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.
The Red Line runs in an east-west direction through Dublin's Northside, then crosses the Liffey and travels southwest 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 closed in 1958. The Red Line and Green Line are not connected to each other, with a fifteen minute walk between the two closest points. The tram services run on a regular frequency, from every five minutes during on-peak times to every 15 minutes late at night. The last tram leaves the terminus at 00:30 except on Sundays and public holidays when the last tram is at 23:30.
Features
The sleek silver Alstom Citadis trams reach a top speed of 70 km/h when 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 40 m Green Line trams, which have a capacity 358 including for two wheelchairs, although all platforms have been constructed to 50 m length allowing possible future increases in capacity.
In other aspects, the two lines are identical except that the clearance between the inbound and outbound lines on the Green Line is slightly wider than on the Red Line. 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 that of the old railway line and as such has few interactions with vehicular or pedestrian traffic. The route of the Red Line was constructed largely on or beside public roads and would not be suited to wider faster metro trains.
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 newly-built large cable-stayed suspension bridge at Taney Cross, near Dundrum town centre. The crossing of the Red Line over the M50 at the Red Cow Roundabout also has its own bridge, but this is unremarkable.
Future
It has been reported (Sunday Times, 31 October 2004) that a € 70 million plan to link the two lines will be presented to the Irish Government by the Minister for Transport before the end of 2004. The link would be about 1 km long, and would extend the Green line from St Stephen's Green, down Dawson Street, around College Green and over O'Connell Bridge via Westmoreland Street to join the Red line in Abbey Street - as of 2005 a final decision has not been announced.
There are also more tentative plans to extend the Red line eastwards past Connolly Station, through the International Financial Services Centre to terminate at the Point Depot .
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.
The project exceeded its budget by a sizeable amount, costing over €700 million, and there were many delays throughout its construction. There were significant costs associated with building two entirely separate tram systems at the same time. For instance whereas one depot would ordinarily be used, two were constructed. The system may not be compatible with the proposed metro system for Dublin. The green line will, in any case, have to be upgraded to connect it to the Red Line. 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 not possible to make such a journey because the two lines are not connected.
There was considerable disruption to traffic during construction work. Businesses also suffered immensely because of the disruption, and visitors to the city have been inconvenienced. However, the Green line (Sandyford to St. Stephen's Green) 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 heavy usage, exacerbated by the shorter 30 m trams used.
Within hours of starting service, the Luas 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, which at the time was undergoing final testing prior to the public launch due at the end of September 2004. September 2004 also witnessed the first collision between two Luas trams at the crossover at the St. Stephens Green terminus. Derailments are not uncommon - two having been reported on the Green line in the two months since opening, as of August 2004.
The price of tickets has also been criticised, with a minimum fare of €1.30 being charged for an adult single journey at off-peak times within a single zone, rising during peak hours. Unlike other public transport in Dublin, where tickets must be shown every time you use the service, the Luas relies on frequent ticket checking by inspectors on the trams - you can expect to show your ticket on roughly one third of the journeys.
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 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 early 2005) popular and would not be immediately recognised by Dubliners. None of these have caught the imagination, and most Dubliners tend to refer to the Luas as trains, rather than trams.
See also
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