Initial hearings on DART, Luas lines next week

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0918/1224279171560.htmlInitial hearings on Dart, Luas lines next week

OLIVIA KELLY

ALMOST 400 groups and individuals have been invited to An Bord Pleanála preliminary hearings next week on the proposed Dart underground and cross-city Luas lines.

The planning board is holding the meetings to establish how much time it needs to set aside for both hearings and what sized venues will be required. It is expected to announce dates for the full public hearings soon after.

Some 278 parties who made submissions and objections to the Iarnród Éireann Dart underground plan will be invited to address the hearings.

A further 91 letters have been sent to those who made submissions on the Luas line, which is under the remit of the Railway Procurement Agency.

The lower number of submissions does not necessarily indicate a lesser interest in the Luas line, An Bord Pleanála said, as residents often group their submissions and objections together. However, as the Luas is no longer included in the Government’s capital spending programme, it is likely to be of less immediate concern than the Dart underground.

The 7.6km line from the docklands to Inchicore will link Heuston Station to the Dart for the first time. The line will also connect with the planned Metro North at St Stephen’s Green. An Bord Pleanála is due to make a decision on Metro North next month.

The Luas BXD, known as the “missing link�, is a 5.6km line running from the Luas Green line at St Stephen’s Green to the Iarnród Éireann station at Broombridge in Cabra. If constructed, this line would link the Green line from Sandyford to St Stephen’s Green with the Red line from Tallaght to Connolly Station. The lines would meet up at O’Connell Street. The Luas BXD would then run to Parnell Square, Broadstone, Phibsborough and Cabra.

Provision would be made for a future stop at Grangegorman once the DIT campus had relocated to the former hospital site.

Separate hearings for both projects are likely to take several weeks. Tunnelling under residential and historic buildings is likely to be the most contentious issue with the Dart underground.

In relation to the Luas line, Dublin City Council, the Dublin City Business Association and a number of other bodies have already told An Bord Pleanála they consider the use of overhead wires in the heart of the city centre to be unacceptable.

Business interests in the city are likely to raise concerns about the disruption and closure of streets during the construction of the line.

[on the move]

Dublin City Business Association and a number of other bodies have already told An Bord Pleanála they consider the use of overhead wires in the heart of the city centre to be unacceptable.

Business interests in the city are likely to raise concerns about the disruption and closure of streets during the construction of the line.

Why can't we just have a set of underground stops in the city centre, which would probably take less time to build, less time to travel, and be more convenient for everyone? The tunnel at the Green could then incorporate the Metro South tunnel.

Not everything in this country has to be above ground.

[dowlingm]

underground stops are ferociously expensive. Difficult to build, require escalators and elevators etc. Not a good idea unless you really need them.

[on the move]

You get what you pay for.

The existing Luas main lines took 4 years to build and was way over budget. Some city centre spots are prone to incidents. With a Metro section in the city centre as in most capital cities, the risk of incidents is significantly reduced, while the convenience increases. But if a Metro was built in the first place instead of an overground system, we wouldn't have these issues.

[dowlingm]

Can you explain what you mean by "The tunnel at the Green could then incorporate the Metro South tunnel. " Did you mean Metro North?

[on the move]

It's perfectly simple really.

An underground tunnel at/near the Green for the city centre Luas connection would be one tunnel, and another tunnel adjacent to it would facilitate the Metro South line, like a Metro station abroad with connecting lines.

I personally prefer to call the proposed Metro, as "South", as it'll make the same amount of journeys from the airport as the route going in the other direction.

[Colm Moore]

I should be along Friday (today) if anyone wants to come along.

[Colm Moore]

Presumably the DART Underground meeting proceeds as scheduled.

http://www.pleanala.ie/news/na0004.pdfCase Ref: 29N.NA0004

Light railway system from St. Stephen's Green to Broombridge, Dublin.

Please be advised that the preliminary meeting scheduled for 2 pm on Friday 24
September, 2010 in the Gresham Hotel has been postponed. A letter is issuing to all involved in the application.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0924/1224279585780.htmlLuas hearing deferred to avoid 'conflict'

FRANK McDONALD, Environment Editor

AN BORD Pleanála has postponed a preliminary hearing on plans for a city-centre link between Dublin’s two Luas lines after discovering the senior planning inspector appointed to deal with the case had what it called “a possible perceived conflict of interest�.

In its notification to some 80 parties, the appeals board said it had “come to the board’s attention that the inspector appointed to examine this application attended a public information exhibition in connection with the proposed project approximately 18 months ago. The board is confident that such attendance would not have influenced the inspector or have given rise to prejudice or bias in the performance of her duties.

“However, in order to avoid possible perceived conflict of interest, the board has decided it would be appropriate to appoint a replacement inspector.�

The hearing, which was due to open today, was to have been held by senior planning inspector Anne Marie O’Connor. However, it is understood that one of the parties – who the board declined to identify – drew the board’s attention to her attendance at the exhibition. “It’s for them to say who it was,� a spokesman said.

One planning source who did not wish to be identified commented that the potential conflict of interest in the latest case involving Luas was “relatively innocuous�, as any member of the public was entitled to attend the Railway Procurement Agency public information exhibition on plans for the city-centre link.

The agency has sought approval from An Bord Pleanála for the construction of the new Luas line, which would run for 5.6km from St Stephen’s Green – where the Sandyford line terminates – to Broombridge in Cabra.

It would run through the city centre via Dawson Street, Nassau Street, Lower Grafton Street, College Green, Westmoreland Street and O’Connell Street, returning via Marlborough Street, Hawkins Street and College Street via a new bridge over the river Liffey.

The appeals board expressed regret that it was necessary to postpone the preliminary hearing, to allow for the appointment of a replacement inspector. But its spokesman said this would involve no undue delay in dealing with the agency’s application.

The board has become particularly sensitive to potential conflicts of interest after losing a High Court case over how it handled plans for a landfill at Usk, Co Kildare. The court quashed its decision to grant permission, saying it had shown “objective bias�.

In another case, involving Dublin Port’s controversial plan to infill 52 acres of Dublin Bay, An Bord Pleanála had to dispense with the services of HR Wallingford, its technical advisers on the application, after it emerged that they had undertaken work for a potential rival, Bremore Port.

Earlier this month, the board denied there was any conflict of interest in one of its members, Conall Boland, handling a case involving heavily contested plans by the Cosgrave Property Group for 600 apartments on the former Dún Laoghaire Golf Club lands. He had previously worked for RPS, who acted as consultants on the scheme.

[Colm Moore]

Hearing on DART tunnel plans under way
Updated: 13:51, Monday, 22 November 2010

A planning hearing for Dublin's proposed underground DART got under way this morning to consider 287 objections and submissions.

Irish Rail said the link would treble the number of passengers but questions have been raised about the cost, which is estimated to be at least €1.3 billion.

The 7.6km tunnel would link the docklands to Heuston station with stops at Pearse St, St Stephen's Green and Christchurch, while an overground line would continue to Inchicore.

If An Bord Pleanála grants permission, Irish Rail hopes to start work in 2012 and complete the line by 2018.

It would link the existing DART line with LUAS, Commuter and Intercity lines as well as the planned Metro North and increase rail passenger numbers from 33 million a year to 100 million.

Irish Rail also says that the project's economic benefit to the country will be 2.4 times the cost and create 7,000 jobs.

The company has decided to use two boring machines instead of four to save cost and has moved most of the tunnel boring from Inchicore, where it could cause structural damage, to the company's property in East Wall.

But residents of East Wall claim the works will turn their area into a massive excavation and mining pit for the best part of a decade.

Residents' spokeswoman Angela Broderick also objected to the fact that the hearing is being held in Tallaght, 15kms from East Wall.

Lawyers for property developer Owen O'Callaghan are also contesting the jurisdiction of the hearing claiming the project will 'sterilise' his lands, which include the Davenport and Alexandra Hotels.

Private members' clubs in St Stephen's Green, Diageo and Bank of Scotland Ireland are among a number of city centre organisations also due to make submissions to the hearing, which is due to last a number of weeks.

Residents' groups in East Wall and the Pearse St area will also be making submissions.


http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1122/dart.html

[Colm Moore]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1122/dart.htmlDeveloper threatens DART underground action
Updated: 20:30, Monday, 22 November 2010

Lawyers for developer Owen O'Callaghan have threatened legal action against the DART underground project claiming expected delays could harm his Dublin properties.

An Bord Pleanála today began a hearing into the planned city centre rail link and will be considering nearly 280 objections and submissions.

East Wall residents protested outside the public hearing this morning. They fear nearly ten years of tunnel boring on this site will ruin their neighbourhood.

Inside lawyers for property developer Owen O'Callaghan challenged An Bord Pleanála's jurisdiction

Mr O'Callaghan owns the Davenport and Alexandra hotels as well as other properties in the city centre and his barrister Colm Allen, SC, said that with no public money identified for the project his lands could lie 'sterilised' for up to a decade without any agreed compensation.

When the board refused to hear a submission on this Mr Allen said he may have to take the issue 'elsewhere'.

But inside the hearing, Dick Fearn, Chief Executive of Irish Rail, said the recession should not be used as an excuse for not going ahead as it was in the 1980s.

Irish Rail claims this underground DART will revolutionise rail, trebling the number of rail passengers to 100 million by linking up with the Inter City, Commuter and LUAS lines as well as the planned Metro North.

The company also say the project will mean 7,000 jobs and the overall economic benefit will be 2.4 times the cost.

But Labour's Transport Spokesman Joe Costello said the country could not at the moment afford the Underground DART, which has to be built alongside the Metro North and Luas city centre link up all of which have a combined estimated cost of €8bn.

The planning hearing is expected to last a number of weeks.

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1123/1224283934345.htmlDeveloper challenges Dart Underground plan
TIM O'BRIEN

A BORD Pleanála hearing into plans for the €2 billion Dart Underground project opened in Tallaght yesterday – and was challenged by a legal team acting for companies belonging to Dublin hotelier and property developer Owen O’Callaghan.

Iarnród Éireann is seeking permission from the planning board for a 7.6km tunnel travelling in an southerly arc from Docklands Station through Spencer Dock, to Pearse Station and on to St Stephen’s Green. From there it travels west to Christ Church, Heuston Station and to a new surface Dart station at Inchicore. Along the route the line is designed to connect with Iarnród Éireann’s northern, Kildare and Wexford rail lines. Iarnród Éireann claims the tunnel would increase capacity in the capital’s suburban services from 33 million passenger journeys per year to more than 100 million.

However, as the oral hearing got under way, senior counsel for Mr O’Callaghan’s companies, Colm Allen, said there was a significant legal question about the “jurisdiction of the board to do what it is about to do�.

Mr Allen said the Dart Underground project had the potential to “sterilise� his client’s property for as long as 10 years. He also said “if necessary� he would be prepared to “go elsewhere� to establish his point about the jurisdiction of the board.

Mr Allen said he was attempting to be helpful to the inquiry by flagging this matter now, offering written submissions on the point for consideration by the board. This could, he said, avoid the possibility of a more difficult decision at a later date.

However, Tom Rabbitte, senior inspector with the planning board, said he intended to go ahead with the hearing in the standard format for such oral hearings, but would make a note of Mr Allen’s comments.

Joe Costello TD, Senator Pascal Donohoe, Councillor Kevin Humphreys and East Wall resident Angela Broderick also asked to be heard at the opening of the inquiry as they objected to the venue for the hearing. Ms Broderick said the Tallaght venue represented a difficult and expensive destination for many residents who wished to attend the hearing.

Mr Rabbitte said the board had been unable to secure a suitable venue in the city centre for the expected duration of the hearing, possibly due to the time of year.

In his submission to the hearing, Iarnród Éireann chief executive Dick Fearn said that despite government efforts to achieve sustainable transport in Dublin, the reality was that “trip making has continued to be by private cars�.

Congestion was an “inevitable consequence�, he said.

Michael Reidy, manager of strategic and business planning with Iarnród Éireann, said a number of people had suggested using the existing Phoenix Park tunnel linking Heuston and Connolly stations across the north city, instead of the new project.

But he said a report by consultants Ove Arup had found in 2000 that this was “the least optimal solution� to provide additional capacity into and through the city centre. He said it would add to capacity constraints on the Maynooth line and would isolate Heuston as diverted Kildare services would effectively bypass Heuston to get to the tunnel. The hearing continues today.

[Colm Moore]

Dart Underground - Oral Hearing Documents http://www.irishrail.ie/dupdfs/filelist.aspx

[cagey]

Considering the current position re monies for DU, i.e. it might never be built.
In that case if the Railway order is granted by An Bord Pleanala it means that landowners get their land plans held up (sterilised) for 10 years with no compensation ... Strangely the same position pertains to the CPO position for Metro North so that now is also in the melting pot.
It seems lots of Senior Council think the Planning Acts apply where a CPO only has a leave to treat (demanded) of 18 months.
This is a bad situation for Rail Users.

Over the next few days i intend to show that the Draft DU Rail Order as stands is seriously flawed and will cause misery for current DART users.

[Colm Moore]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0825/1224302930945.htmlLuas link would delay buses, says transport provider
FRANK McDONALD, Environment Editor

DUBLIN BUS has estimated that 85 per cent of its 117 million passenger journeys per year could be subject to delays of up to 10 minutes, particularly on cross-city routes, if the Luas city centre link goes ahead.

It would involve the permanent removal of key bus stops such as those outside Trinity College and along College Street, and could impose extra costs of €15 million per year to alleviate the impact and stem the loss of passengers.

An Bord Pleanála is due to issue a decision on whether to approve a railway order application for the proposed Luas line by the end of next month.

However, the knock-on effects of the BXD Luas line – which would run from St Stephen’s Green to O’Connell Street and on to Broombridge – were not spelled out at last May’s Bord Pleanála oral hearing by Dublin Bus representatives.

According to reliable sources, the State-owned company was told in advance by the Department of Transport it should not object to the Luas link because it is part of the Transport 21 investment programme, adopted in 2005.

Dublin’s Lord Mayor, Cllr Andrew Montague of the Labour Party, yesterday called on the Government to reconsider the proposed Luas link because of the “severe� impacts its construction and operation would have on bus services and on cyclists in the city.

“You have to ask is this the way to get value for money when we have a huge national debt and, as RuairÃ* Quinn says, Ireland is in receivership. But by not spending the money on Luas, we could reverse some of cuts in Dublin Bus services,â€� he said.

“The reason why it’s being advanced is not that it’s the best project, but the only affordable one. In isolation from Metro North and Dart Underground, I don’t believe it makes sense, and what I’m saying is let’s stop and think about this again.� Although he agreed that connecting the two existing Luas lines was important, he said “a lot of things need to be connected�.

He warned that northside suburbs not served by Luas or Dart would have their bus services “severely restricted� by Luas BXD.

Referring to estimates by the Railway Procurement Agency that the line would cater for an additional 7.5 million passenger journeys per year, Mr Montague said: “What hasn’t been quantified is how many bus passenger trips will be lost as a result.�

He warned that there could even be a “net loss of public transport passengers�, yet Luas BXD had “never been subjected to a cost-benefit analysis as a stand-alone project, taking into account the damage it could do to buses and cycling in Dublin.

“This project is going to cost €500 million, and the money would be better spent on bus parking and bus interchanges, tackling pinch points like the Cat and Cage [in Drumcondra] and expanding the Dublin bikes scheme tenfold to 5,000 bikes covering the whole city.�

Mr Montague expressed concern about the impact on the city centre of construction works scheduled to run for 3½ years, and about the long-term impact on cyclists having to share streets in the central area with tram tracks running parallel.

“Tram tracks are dangerous for cyclists. So, in addition to damaging bus services, Luas BXD is going to make cycling less attractive,� he said, adding that unless rubber strips were inserted alongside tracks to close gaps, it would “damage cycling in the city�.

The department did not respond to Irish Times queries.

[Colm Moore]

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0206/luas.htmlConcern over Luas link-up in Dublin city
Updated: 20:57, Monday, 6 February 2012

An Bord Pleanála has expressed concern that the proposed Luas link-up in Dublin city centre would interfere with future development of the DART Underground and Metro North.

An Bord Pleanála has expressed concern that the proposed Luas link-up in Dublin city centre would interfere with future development of the DART Underground and Metro North projects.

Construction of the LUAS link line BXD was originally scheduled to take place after completion of the two underground lines.

The board points out that the LUAS line will be above three planned Metro stations and one for the DART Underground.

In a letter to the Rail Procurement Agency (RPA), the board states it is not clear how future works can be carried out while keeping the BXD line open.

It would also have reservations about any proposal to suspend or replace this Luas service.

The Metro North and Underground DART projects have been given the go-ahead by An Bord Pleanála.

But these plans were shelved in the Government's spending review last November because of the combined cost estimated at €5bn.

The Government said it would go-ahead with BXD, which is estimated to cost €300m.

An oral hearing on the BXD application was completed before the Government announced the suspension of the underground projects.

A decision on BXD was expected soon, but in its request for further information the board warns that any modification of existing plans would need fresh approvals.

It also wants the National Transport Authority to approve the response of the RPA.

A spokesman for the RPA said it was confident that the concerns of the board could be addressed. It has until the end of March to respond.

[karlr42]

I guess that makes sense, how you can build the cut-and-cover stations at SSG and OCB without tearing up the shiny Luas tracks above? The obvious solution is build the stations boxes first, but then you're bloating the cost of BXD by putting some of the most expensive parts of DU and MN into its budget, surely? If that happens and BXD becomes uneconomical, none of these projects will go ahead..

[ACustomer]

I wish someone would tell ABP to get real. Dart Underground, if it ever happens, is probably 10 years away at best. Metro North is probably another 10 years away on top of that. Anyone looking at the financial prospects of this country should recognise this.

What it means is that if Luas BXD goes ahead, somewhere down the road (10 to 20 years) the line might be closed for a year for works underground. Big deal. There will be loads of other ways in which transport and shopping will be interrupted by Metro and Dart Underground, but no-one in ABP or the RPA ever seems to figure these disruptions into their cost-benefit analyses.

[markpb]

What it means is that if Luas BXD goes ahead, somewhere down the road the line might be closed for a year for works underground

I don't know of any other city that closed a rail line completely for over a year. It would be a pretty stupid thing to do. In any case, if you're building a station box using cut and cover, you're not just closing a line, you're lifting and rebuilding it completely.

I want BXD to go ahead as soon as possible too but ABP have valid concerns.

[dowlingm]

Wouldn't it be funny if RPA's reply consisted of:
"Dear Sir,

With reference to your correspondence in respect of conflicts between Metro North, DART Underground and LUAS BXD, we have relied on an assurance from the Department of Transport that the two non-LUAS projects have the same likelihood of going ahead as a tunnel from Dublin to the Isle of Man.

Yours sincerely
The RPA."