[Article] Luas work won't stop for Christmas

Victor

They are now putting in overhead equipment in Ranelagh.

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-132176815-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FNews.asp

Luas work won't stop for Christmas
23/11/03 00:00
By Niamh Connolly

Luas works will continue in Dublin city centre during Operation Freeflow from December 1 to January 4, during the Christmas shopping and New Year sales period.

Dublin City Council's director of traffic, Owen Keegan, said the decision to allow the work to continue was made to avoid further delays in the project. "Normally we would ban road works - for everyone else it's been banned.

But if we stopped them, it would add six weeks to their programme and we had to take a decision on which was the best option," he said.

Members of the Dublin City Business Association (DCBA), such as Easons, Arnotts, Penneys, Clerys, Roches Stores and the Jervis Street Shopping Centre, two months ago warned that they might seek an injunction if Luas did not cease work on Abbey Street during this period.

Luas is the only construction project allowed to continue during Operation Freeflow, apart from emergency works such as road resurfacing, according to Keegan.

"We're not happy that works in Abbey Street seem to have continued for so long. Deadlines we have been given for clearing out the street have not been met," he said.

A spokesman for the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) said heavy mechanical work on the street would be finished by December 1. "There will be no road interference - this is the commitment we gave for Operation Freeflow," he said.

But there will be work on the footpath in Lower Abbey Street and possibly in Middle Abbey Street during the Christmas period. The spokesman said the RPA had met representatives of the Henry Street/Mary Street Partnership and DCBA who were "happy with the progress of work on Abbey Street".

This weekend, DCBA chief executive Tom Coffey, a member of the Operation Freeflow Committee, said he was satisfied that strict conditions had been laid down for Luas works during the Freeflow period.

Luas could not start work on any new roads and must ensure that pedestrians had priority on paths and pedestrian crossings during this period, he said.

Contractors will continue to receive deliveries of rail and concrete during this period, although the DCBA wants deliveries limited to night time.

"No rail and concrete deliveries will be made, except at off-peak times, and then only with the agreement of the chairman of the Operation Freeflow committee," the RPA spokesman said.

http://www.thepost.ie/web/DocumentView/did-47714511-pageUrl--2FThe-Newspaper-2FSundays-Paper-2FNews.asp

Luas lines not up to standard
30/11/03 00:00
By Niamh Connolly

Luas contractors were forced to uproot a section of Harcourt Street last week because work on the light rail system was not up to standard, the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) has confirmed.

No penalties have been imposed on the main contractors AMB JV for any delays caused or reconstruction work carried out on the Luas lines, according to a spokesman for the RPA. He said redigging was "not a common occurrence, but not unique". "It was a piece of work that was not up to standard by agreement between ourselves and the contractors. We decided to replace that piece of land top," he said.

"It is viewed as better to raise the standard now, rather than try to rectify the problem later. There have been a few instances where work had to be re-done and the contractor did not dispute this."

Costs of the redigging work on Harcourt Street would be absorbed by the contractor by agreement, he said.

Fine Gael spokesman on transport Denis Naughten said investigations by the Oireachtas Committee on Transport found the quality and level of supervision of Luas works on day to day operations "leaves a lot to be desired".

"The fact that contractors are going back onto Harcourt Street highlights the inadequate level of supervision, even though there is supposed to be a member of the RPA supervising every kilometre of track being laid," he said.

Lawyers for the RPA were at the High Court last week in a legal action taken by former acting chief executive Donal Mangan against his replacement by Frank Allen in August. It is understood Mangan was seeking discovery of documents.

Separately, Freedom of Information documents reveal that six major Dublin consultancy firms tendered for a contract to provide public relations and media advice to the RPA, which has come under fire over its management of Luas.

Fleishman Hillard Saunders successfully bid for the deal, which lasts 15 months. Informed sources said the contract was worth an estimated €4,000 per month.

Other tenders came from Bill O'Herlihy Communications; MRPA Consultants, headed by Stephen O'Byrnes and Ray Gordon; Financial Dynamics Ireland; Murray Consultants, and Paul Allen & Associates.

Tony O'Brien Communications was contracted by the RPA on three separate occasions over the past year to provide PR and journalistic services, according to FOI documents.

The purchase order arrangement with O'Brien was "to procure a journalist for a short time to write some positive articles", according to the document.

O'Brien's first contract was for 20 half-days in July. He worked a further eight half days in September, and this was extended for a further eight half-days in October.

De Rebel

Having spent a bit of time travelling around Dublin over the last few days and looking at the state of LUAS works in different places, it seems to far from finished. My understanding was that this system was to be up and running in Mid 2003, but is a few months behind. From the state of what I've seen this week, assuming that they have to finish the track and also go through all the testing, safety evaluation, commissioning and handover, it doesn’t really look like something that’s "a few months behind"

More like a year away.

Anybody know better?

Victor

I'm sure FF councillors will want it complete by June.

Originally posted by De Rebel
More like a year away.

It probably looks that way yes. However, you need to note that they are working from the suburbs in towards the city and that in many places work is complete (e.g. Tallaght - Red Cow is being used for driver training).