Luas overcrowding

[colmoc]

Rail bosses are due to be questioned by the Oireachtas transport committee today about how they plan to tackle overcrowding on the LUAS system in Dublin. The committee is set to quiz the Railway Procurement Agency about its moves to introduce bigger carriages on the tram service.

The new carriages are due to be brought in by next January, but speaking ahead of today's meeting, Fianna Fail TD Charlie O'Connor said he wanted this to happen sooner.

He said the LUAS system was the victim of its own success and measures were needed to alleviate overcrowding as soon as possible.

www.unison.ie

did they ask the question of why they got it wrong with carriage length in the first place?

[Dave]

Whatever about the extensions to the trams next year, what I can't understand is why at peak hours are trams 5 minutes apart? Why can't they be every 3 or 4 minutes during peak hours?

[Mark Gleeson]

A) Not enough trams on Green line to go below 4 minute level
B) Green line is actually 4 minutes currently
C) New timetable is coming in September with official 4 minute service

Luas operational efficency is a joke compared to some tram operations elsewhere I've seen, DCC are part to blame as trams don't get priority when they should

[why_does_planning_suck]

what really ires me is that while an extension to carrickmines is in the pipeline , the tram line already built needs an improved electricity system to provide enough power for higher tram frequencies.

Is this being done in parallel with the extension ? (i think i know the answer already ...)

plus isn't it time that the rpa started preparing to extend all the platforms to cater for the future metro ?

[James Shields]

They certainly should build the Cherrywood extenstion with 90m platforms to allow for future "Metrofication".

Trams may be extended to 50m, but current platforms are only 40m long. When 50m trams get approval for the green line (there are no plans for this at the moment, but as Cherrywood pushes demand up, it will be needed), stations should be extended to 90m here too, rather than requiring second upgrade for Metro.

[Mark Gleeson]

Despite having pointed this out on record at the public inquiry no comment was made in the report

All platforms are 40m

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Mark Gleeson

A) Not enough trams on Green line to go below 4 minute level
B) Green line is actually 4 minutes currently
C) New timetable is coming in September with official 4 minute service

Luas operational efficency is a joke compared to some tram operations elsewhere I've seen, DCC are part to blame as trams don't get priority when they should

What about the Red Line Mark? Surely there are enough trams on this line to sustain a service beyond 5 minutes.

[James Shields]

I would even go as so far to say that any new Luas paltforms be built to 90m spec or capable of 90m.

I certainly agree there's a strong argument for this in any off-street Luas sections. Any on-street sections where two or more lines share track would also benefit from this, as it would allow two trams to stop at the same time in a shared section. In some areas where there are space sonstraints, however, requiring 90m platforms would offer no real benefit, but make it seriously difficult to to fit stations in.

Have we seen any details on the designs of the Luas extensions? I would hope that platforms could be 50m for C1 and BX (let's face it, on-street Metro in the city centre is not something we're looking for), and 90m for the B1 extrnsion to Cherrywood. Somehow I doubt the last point is in the current plans.

I know its slightly off topic and may need to be in the members area but waht are the chances of this happening with the metro

This was a serious concern with the early Metro proposals, but after P11 kicked up a fuss about 2 or 3-car Metro trains, the spec has changed to allow vehicles up to 90m long, which I think should be sufficient capacity for the long term needs of the city. You won't be guaranteed a seat at rush hour, but that's the case all over the world.

[colmoc]

what kind of freaquencies will the metro be capable of running at

are the metro units going to be the full 90m in length from the start of service

[why_does_planning_suck]

Originally Posted by lostcarpark

(let's face it, on-street Metro in the city centre is not something we're looking for)

Why not ? it would be a lot cheaper. Essentially what is proposed is not a metro but trams doubled up. As repeatedly remarked by frank mcdonald , if several tram lines were built through the city (4/5), then the city centre could be closed off to cars.

This was very successfully done in strasbourg , a city of comparable size and population.

After all the cost of this metro would build several lines. It might not be as sexy but frankly would be rooted in sense. The green line runs through the most populated part of the city and doesn't have the patronage required to justify a metro, so i don't see how a northside underground is needed. where are the numbers ?