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THE NEW LUAS line will see its first passengers in 2017 – but until then there is much construction to get underway.
We can expect moving statues, road diversions, and changes to the roads in Dublin city centre as the new line (which will connect the green and red lines) is built.
RPA’s Director of Corporate Services, Ger Hannon told TheJournal.ie that is currently 40km of line, and 6km will be added to this. It is anticipated that they will see more than 30million passengers a year thanks to the new line. There is a “huge pent up demand for this connection”, said Hannon.
Hannon explained that the Cross City Luas line will connect “what are at the moment two pretty much separate distinct shopping and business districts”.
In time it will be possible for people to come and shop in the Henry St and Grafton St areas on the same day… or drop into Henry St and have lunch on Dawson St.
Grangegorman
Hannon said that the connection of the new Granegegorman campus on the new line is very important, and there will be in excess of 20,000 students using the service.
The old railway line that ran through Dublin city included a stop at Broadstone and at Harcourt St. The latter line was preserved over the years after being closed down in the 1950s, which made it available for the RPA to use during the green Luas line construction.
A similar scenario will occur with the Broadstone facilities near Constitution Hill.
The new lines will see the spreading of the benefits of the Luas, said Hannon. There are lots of areas that need bit of a lift, he said, adding he hopes such areas will see a rejuvenation, as “once Luas goes into a street, things start to happen, things start shaking up”.
The initial works begin next week (24 June) and will be the cellar works on streets such as Dawson St, Grafton St, and Westmoreland St. This will involve some basement extensions, and cellar investigation works which will involve the digging of a narrow trench down about a metre.
Cameras will be sent down to the basements to see what is inside, before any work is done.
Moving statues
As part of the works in the city centre, a number of statues will have to be moved. The famous Molly Malone statue at the bottom of Grafton St is one prime statue to be moved, and will be gone for two years.
Meanwhile, there are also plans to relocate the Fr Mathew Statue from upper O’Connell St, as when the tram is installed, it will leave no room for the reinstatement of the statue.
Dublin City Council is currently putting together options for Fr Mathew, and has to agree with the city council and a range of stakeholders as to where the best location for him will be.
A report is to be submitted and will follow with discussion from residents, the parks department, the Capuchin orders, and the Pioneer Association, a recent Dublin City Council meeting was told.
Molly Malone will be moved early next year to storage, and on completion of the works she will be reinstated just slightly north of where she currently sits along Grafton St.
The cost of storing the statues is “not a huge figure”, as the contractor will supply a facility for all heritage items.
Traffic diversions
There will be major changes to the traffic route around Dawson St, going up along the south east side of Stephen’s Green, heading towards Shelbourne, on the north side of the green.
Hannon pointed out that much of the traffic on Dawson is through traffic, so this will ease pressure on Dawson St.
The diversions will allow people to turn off St Stephen’s Green into Merrion Row, and go straight up Baggot St. According to Hannon, it will be a “big improvement for people, a more direct route”.
Buses will be able to go along Kildare St towards Trinity College, as they will be able to turn off the green to go down Kildare St, and then will go around Trinity the other way. That will take a lot of the buses out of there, said Hannon.
There will be a “whole rearrangement of traffic to ease pressure on Dawson St”, said Hannon.
Some left and right turns won’t be allowed any more under the diversions. Hannon said that they have taken very careful account of access and delivery requirements, and access to all car parks will be maintained, as well as the ability to make deliveries to premises.
There is also the new bridge being built over the Liffey, which is being managed by DCC and will be used by the Luas and buses.
We will see work on the trackline begin in early 2015, but before the first passengers can hop on board the Luas, the drivers must undergo special training.
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“In time it will be possible to shop in Henry St and Grafton St on the same day”…….. It’s about a 2km max walk ffs! Get off your hole!
Have to say I agree with you. Thats actually a really nice walk from one shopping are to the other. If this is the main selling point of this line, then it’s a bit arbitrary.
Better again, It’s not even 1km
My first thoughts on readung the article!
The main point is the connection to the north city. However once again it ignores glasnevin/santry/artane area (with the obvious direct route to airport) in davour of less savoury areas of the city. This could see the increase of unsavoury characters in the city centre – see luas red line (the heroine express)……
Henry St and Grafton St in the same day?! Just imagine!
All those countless times I’ve been on Henry St and Grafton Street in the same *hour* – it never dawned on me that I was doing the impossible!
Linking the Luas lines is obviously sensible – and should have been done from day one. But I think Mr Hannon’s got an inflated sense of the greatness of his own project.
Dcu would benefit hugely from a line linking us up to town. We are growing at a huge rate will over 11,500 students and growing and still no connection. I remeber when platform 11 were petitioning for the two lines to be connected over 10 years ago and they laughed in there faces saying “why would we ever want to join the lines”. Great service from the luas as it is run by a good company but construction and planning has been a disaster.
Expect a rapid influx of tracksuits onto grafton Street
@rb I know it’s crazy, but that us Irish for you, 2 steps forward 10 steps back. What we need is a hard link from the city center to the airport. Why are luas line hasn’t been even put forward to link the airport and city center is beyond me.
There are female superheroes on the red line?
Yes the Luas Red Line is the heroin express , open dealing and the dealers have free travel passes on the Luas and the busses so they can serve their customers travelling to and fro all day in and out of O’Connell St . What a joke !! But what will the Green North side Luas be called ?
@Keith,
Heroine Express – Wonderwoman and Xena spotted on the Luas on the way to work.
I had to lol at that:
“In time it will be possible for people to come and shop in the Henry St and Grafton St areas on the same day… or drop into Henry St and have lunch on Dawson St.”
Lol it’s a ten minute walk, and there isn’t really much on Grafton street shop wise, its mostly phone shops, Fast food outlets, a few centras/londis/bus stops Carrolls gift stores and M&S. Everything you really need is on Henry st/Mary St anyways.
It would be great for it to split at parnell square/braodstone and head up thru Drumcondra and Santry, would sort out the GAA heads too for teh Croke park match stuff.
Keith’s have all the best ideas
Any idiot designing this originally should of noticed the obvious need to have the lines connected bloody typical morons same as the m50 build a 3rd lane at more of a cost than the original 2 lanes!
Yes, typical Irish, always thinking shorterm! Its a serious problem in this country!
My rant for the day!
The ‘idiots’ did design it to link up.
However the idiot shop owners of the south city objected to having works on their doorsteps and the idiot TDs bowed to their pressure, hence the green line stopping at Stephens green
We get what we vote for James !
Mary O’Rourke was the transport minister in charge when the Luas was being considered. so yeah #nailonhead
An actual moving statue , I remember getting dragged around the country as a kid to look at imaginary moving statues
“Shop in both the Henry St and Grafton St areas in one day” WOW!!
Just how far apart do the RPA think these places are?!?
For people who don’t know Dublin I guess it will make moving between the two places easier?
It doesn’t make much of a difference Blinky as you can easily and quickly walk between the two.
We need more orbital links. Why does nearly every form of public transport have to go through the city centre.
High speed Luas along the m50 would be great!
Connect it to the red and green line then build one to the airport
Are you mad Edward? That sounds like… Sense. Blasphemy!
Perhaps the government could save on storage costs and raise much needed funds by allowing citizens to ‘rent’ out Molly as a garden feature ;)
Anto and Deco in Broombridge must be wetting themselves with delight. Soon they will be able to throw rocks at the Luas as well as the train.
So no chance of a line out to blanch then,or even the northside no
This line is going to Broombridge, which is fairly northside!
@Brian
I presume over time it will be extended to there.
There is one at the m50! At red cow! So funny that people will be able to shop in two business districts in the one day!!! Jesus you’d swear it was new York or London!! Hate that station in broombridge if your coming in from maynooth almost every time theres a rock thrown at the train!
Think he meant to cross the M50.
I got the train the other day at broombridge. There is no ticket station, no staff just 2 platforms and a gang of lads drinking dutchgold – they had plastic cups mind. It wasn’t the worst experience and the luas is most welcome, If nothing else it will clean up the area and give a few people some jobs. It will of course also help us northsiders get up to Grafton st. Will there be a passport check on the Liffey though? Just wondering how we will get a visa to cross onto the dark side?
You will have to go through quarantine.
As long as quarantine works both ways we’ll be fine :-)
I wish they build one along M50
That was planned as metro west…great plans but along with metro north or the luas to Lucan ain’t happening soon I’m sorry to say
Always thought building a monorail would have been better, reducing the required road space limiting the construction delays
Single rail or mono rail, they still need to move any other services(water, elec, telecoms) that are buried under where the tram passes, so that future digs never interrupt trams
Monorail!! Thats more of a Shelbyville thing lol
Is there a chance the track could bend?
I suppose its better late than never…….
I hate the luas and all forms of public transport, how DARE they even try to implement a system that isn’t perfect in our windey, crooked-streeted capital. What they hell were they thinking putting in something which is only “pretty good”? Who cares if disabled people and the elderly and mothers with babies would like to take a luas 1km across the city? I’m young and fit, walking suits me! In any case, the gougers will tear it down! Did the RPA not know that the skangers of our fair capital were responsible for tearing down the trams in the first place? surely they are waiting to pounce on the next electrified tramway that would come their way! And don’t get me started on roads, they should be straight, who cares if the topography and layout of towns across the country doesn’t make it feasible?
In case you can’t tell, I’m being sarcastic.
What will tourists take photos in front of now?
Broombridge Station?
Dublin, Dublin , Dublin ! F*ck the country people as All-ways !
Says someone that lives in Hong Kong.
Don’t think it would be feasible to put a luas in ballybunion or the likes. Usually public transport is put where there will be a public to use it.
Coming soon, the Skibbereen metro, boasting one station and .5km of track 600m underground!
“Moving statues”.. Whatever you do, don’t blink..!
why do you have to almost have to drive your knuckle through the screen to buy a ticket..?
I’m gonna miss Molly Malone </3
Actually is the Lucan line which crosses the red line still happening?
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