[Article] Public inquiry into 7.5km Luas extension to Cherrywood opens

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Irish Times

Public inquiry into 7.5km Luas extension to Cherrywood opens?Tim O'Brien

Matters surrounding the proposed extension of the Luas to Cherrywood in south Co Dublin were outlined at the start of a public inquiry into the proposal yesterday.
Inquiry inspector James Connolly SC was told that the design and integration of the system with existing roads and public transport services would be key.
He was also told that issues would be raised in relation to water mains, adverse impact on the environment and the demolition of listed property, as well as the impact on businesses in Sandyford and Leopardstown.


The railway lobby group Platform 11 has asked for time to make a submission and Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown County Council said it would raise a number of topics from engineering works to the planning and development issues raised by the building of a tramway.

The Railway Procurement Agency is seeking a railway order to almost double the length of the Luas green line, adding another 7.5km (4.6 miles) to the 9km (5.5 miles) route from St Stephen's Green through Ranelagh and Dundrum to Sandyford. When completed in 2010, the journey from Cherrywood to the city-centre is expected to take 41 minutes. Funding is to come from the State, with a 50 per cent contribution from property developers in the Cherrywood area.

At yesterday's brief hearing, the Gallops Residents' Association also sought representation regarding the treatment of a cul- de-sac in the vicinity of what will be the Glencairn stop.

While the former Harcourt Street railway line took a straight route from the Stillorgan reservoirs across Leopardstown Road, via Foxrock station, to Carrickmines, the Luas will follow a dog-leg diversion around Leopardstown racecourse to serve the more populated areas of The Gallops and Ballyogan.

This route will run through Central Park, Glencairn, The Gallops, Leopardstown Valley, Ballyogan Wood and the racecourse before reaching Carrickmines. It will cross the M50 between Central Park and the rear of Glencairn House, but will go back across the M50 between Ballyogan Wood and the racecourse stop.

The inquiry adjourned yesterday and will resume in Fitzpatrick's Castle Hotel in Killiney next Monday. Submissions may be made to the inquiry secretariat at Ormond House, Ormond Quay.

© The Irish Times 2006
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ire...10HM5LUAS.html

[Mark Gleeson]

Platform 11 made its submission today, and the Irish Times have been given a copy

A copy of the text is attached, it wil be on the main website shortly

[Mark Gleeson]

There where rumours going around on Tuesday evening

Originally Posted by Irish Times

Family denies RPA got demolition consent
Olivia Kelly

A family whose house is due to be demolished to make way for the Luas Green Line extension has denied giving consent for the demolition to the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA).

The family's legal representatives also contend that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the extension of the line did not give proper consideration to route options that would preserve the house, which is a protected structure.
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The EIA further failed to take into account the circumstances of the family, who do not wish to be named, one of whom has an intellectual disability and would be incapable of coping with the move, they said.

The family was yesterday addressing the public inquiry into the extension of the line from Sandyford to Cherrywood in south Dublin.

The RPA had told the inquiry that the family had accepted the need to demolish their 18th-century listed house. However, the owners said they would never agree to the demolition.

"I would never accept it ... I said [to the RPA] that we were going to fight this," one owner said.

His wife told the inquiry they had bought the house, which they had completely refurbished, be- cause it had additional buildings making it suitable for her disabled brother. Her brother's condition meant he could not cope with change and he already had a brain haemorrhage caused by stress-induced seizures.

Representing the family, Eamonn Galligan SC said the EIA was supposed to consider the human impact of a project, but his clients were not mentioned.

The assessment did not adequately consider other routes and appeared to be relying on a Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council plan requiring the demolition of the house for a road that had not yet been approved and contravened the county development plan because the house is a protected structure.

Dublin's light-rail Luas system was involved in 46 accidents - or almost one a week - with other vehicles and pedestrians last year. New figures seen by The Irish Times show that the vast majority of these occurred on the red line connecting Tallaght to Connolly station.

The figures show that last year there were 36 accidents involving contact between a tram and another vehicle. Some 34 of these occurred on the red line, with two taking place on the green line connecting Sandyford to St Stephen's Green.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ire...5HM10LUAS.html
© The Irish Times 2006

[Derek Wheeler]

Well, we knew this was coming since last Summer. It has the potential to be very messy and cause untold delays.

Lets just hope an amicable solution can be found.

[Mark Hennessy]

Mitchell warns of gridlock over Luas extension
Christine Newman

A monumental mistake would be made if the proposed Luas extension went past the entrance to the busy Sandyford industrial estate as it would cause gridlock in the surrounding area and on the M50, Olivia Mitchell TD said yesterday.

The Fine Gael deputy made a submission to the inquiry into the proposed Luas extension of the Green Line from Sandyford to Cherrywood.

The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) proposes that the Luas pass by the entrance to the Sandyford industrial estate on the Leopardstown Road side.
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Ms Mitchell said 24,000 people worked in the estate, and there were also plans for other developments, including 3,000 housing units, stores and proposals for a multistorey block.

"I don't think the Celtic Tiger is so strong that we can afford to effectively gridlock the estate. Businesses have greater mobility needs than one fixed line," she said.

Having the Luas going through this route would leave the estate effectively landlocked, she said.

"This will cause a buildup on the Leopardstown roundabout, the estate and the surrounding area, including the motorway itself," Ms Mitchell warned.

If a metro underground system was not on the cards, she said, she would suggest a tunnel for that part of the Luas.

"It would be a monumental mistake to allow this crossing, and in years to come we will all be asking 'How did we let this happen?' " Ms Mitchell said.

She added later that the results would be much worse than at the Red Cow roundabout.

The RPA is seeking permission to almost double the length of the Green Line. It will follow a diversion around Leopardstown racecourse to serve the The Gallops and Ballyogan.

It will cross the M50 between Central Park and the rear of Glencairn House but will go back across the M50 between Ballyogan Wood and the racecourse.

Green TD Eamon Ryan said he was supportive of the development but asked the inquiry headed by the inspector, James Connolly SC, to include in its report anything that might assist in upgrading the line to metro status.

He said he supported Ms Mitchell in that there would be traffic problems in future at the industrial estate crossing. The trams would be coming at three- minute intervals which would mean 1½ minutes each way, he said. The only solution was a metro.



© The Irish Times

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ire...12HM6LUAS.html

Poor old Olivia comes across as pro-business interests a lot of the time but her concerns seem very valid, having an at-grade crossing to the Estate would be a disaster.

[Mark Gleeson]

We don't want the Burton Hall crossing either and proposed a solution round it, I'm told the RPA actually agree with my assessment but it would annoy residents. Thanks to a bit of information that came my way last week we even proposed a way to avoid 3 at grade crossings at Glencairn and leave Clonlea House standing

I sold the segregation is good for passenger experience line

Since this is light metro we have to concede level crossings, but that a high level of segregation is desirable

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Ireland.com

Embassy grounds 'sacred', inquiry into Luas line told
Christine Newman

Eamon Galligan SC said the environmental impact statement (EIS) did not adequately consider alternative routes which would avoid the demolition of his clients' home. He said one alternative would be to run the line through what he stated were the former grounds of the British embassy residence. He said the lands were now owned by a developer.

Maurice Gaffney SC, for the Railway Procurement Agency, said the route was constrained by Murphystown Castle and Glencairn House, the British ambassador's residence, both protected structures, Mr Gaffney said.

He added: "Under the law, lands of an ambassador, a foreign potentate, are sacred, and taking those lands just couldn't happen."

Mr Galligan said he referred to them as the former lands of the ambassador. The inquiry is now concluded.

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ire...52HM8LUAS.html
© 2006 The Irish Times

Of course we mentioned the ambassadors wall at the inquiry on Wednesday.

[Kevin K Kelehan]

Such a load of hot air I have never heard in my life as that from Gaffney 'Sacred' the Portugese ambassador who held up the N11 widening at Whites Cross to preserve his front garden tennis court found himself 'Sacredly dismissed' by his government upon a complaint from then Taoiseach Albert Reynolds in 1994.

The issue for me here is why is such an obscene amount of concrete being poured and such a large number of traffic jams being created by the provision of at grade crossings when an existing alignment is intact save for one communal back garden?

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Kevin K Kelehan

why is such an obscene amount of concrete being poured and such a large number of traffic jams being created by the provision of at grade crossings when an existing alignment is intact save for one communal back garden?

Money..

[Mark Gleeson]

You could go under and miss 3 at grade crossings and leave Clonlea house standing..........

RPA very quick to say it wasn't possible, cost they claim

[Mark]

Anything is possible. Question is, is it worth it..

There are far too many short term goals in T21. Projects such as Luas line BX, the lack of segregation on Line B1, Sheriff Street Station, DMUs order etc.. I could name many more.

Question is, are they worth the gain for the expenditure. Remember FF have the 2007 elections in mind and they are going to try and get as much as possible into planning and construction as they possibly can. Problem is, the interconnector can be pulled at that stage but I doubt the metro could.

[Colm Donoghue]

as sir humphrey said "Everything is possible minister, but nothing is possible the first time"

[Mark Gleeson]

Thats more or less what I told the RPA engineer, its an idea it can be done if you wanted itit won't be cheap but on the otherside it offers significant benefits

The inquiry panned out exactly the way we thought it would. Since the RPA have gone public we know the metro is just a fancy Luas. We could have had a good go at them and where ready to do so but in the context of the new information we had no case

[Kevin K Kelehan]

It is so typical of infrastructural investment practice in Ireland to gunther a major project such as the Metro to protect a Luas extension. This will be just like the M50 why build it once when you can do it twice?