Now Instanbul Ahead of Dublin in Rail Transport

P11 Comms

Meanwhile, Irish politicans of all parties are still pointing at the station at Ballygunin (pop 150) in the land of one-off houses along the Western Rail Corridor and using expressions such as "vital" and "important national infrastructural rail transport asset"...etc.

Interconnector or Metro anybody? Have we lost our minds completly in this country?


Istanbul Strait Tube Crossing construction to start on May 9
06 May 2004 01:03 PM

A ceremony will take place on May 9 to mark start of construction of system which will connect Istanbul's Asian and European sides with an immersed tube tunnel under the Istanbul Strait.

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend the ceremony, sources said on Thursday.

Construction of the system was undertaken by a consortium of Turkish and Japanese companies. Construction of Turkey's first railway tube crossing is envisaged to finish until 2008. Construction of tube crossing will be financed by a 86.8 billion U.S. dollars loan obtained from the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC). Meanwhile, nearly 700 million U.S. dollars loan will be used to finance construction of its commuter connections.

The project called "Marmaray" includes a 13.3 km Istanbul Strait crossing and the upgrade of 63 km of suburb line to create a 76.3 km high capacity line between Gebze and Halkali. The Istanbul Strait crossing will be done by a 1.8 km earthquake-proof immersed tube, assembled from 18 sections. This tube will be accessed by bored tunnels from Yenikapi on the European side and Sogutlucesme on the Asian side of Istanbul. Intermediate stations will be done at Sirkeci and Uskudar. An interchange station with Istanbul metro and light rail will be built at Yenikapi.

The upgrade of the suburb lines requires the laying of a third track along most of the way to increase the line capacity up to 75.000 passengers per hour in each direction. Signaling must also be modernized to allow 2 minutes headway service. The 41 stations along the line will be refurbished and the platform lengthened to 180 m.

Kobie

Eeeek!!! I wouldn't want to be down there when the quake hits.

While we're at it, they've an excellent system in Istanbul called the Akbil. Basically it looks like a little watch battery that you can get on a key ring or student card etc. You put credit onto it a various booths and can use it to ride just about any form of public transport in Istanbul - trams, trains, ferry's and buses. You just tip it against a reader as you get on, or walk through a turnstile etc. and the fares are actually about 20% - 30% cheaper than using cash.

It works brilliantly, but what are the chances of every seeing something similar in this kip?

Ro

Originally posted by Kobie
It works brilliantly, but what are the chances of every seeing something similar in this kip?

Hopefully they're not too far away:

http://www.dublinbus.ie/projects/integrated_ticketing_system.asp

ishmael whale

Meanwhile, back in Ballaghaderreen.
http://www.wdc.ie/news.asp?id=73
“The Western Development Commission (WDC) welcomes the announcement today by the Minister for Transport, Mr Séamus Brennan, T.D., to set up an expert working group to examine the potential of the Western Rail Corridor. CEO of the WDC, Lisa McAllister has been appointed to serve as a member of this new working group. …… Lisa McAllister, CEO of the WDC, stated, “These reports pointed out that the availability of quality access to, from and within the region will attract investment and support the social fabric of the West region. Concurrently, developments such as the Government’s decentralised jobs announcement, will drive demand for improved transport infrastructure and increase the intensity of its use.”

I previously asked the WDC to explain how the proposed decentralisation would significantly increase transport demand, given the contention in their Jobs for Towns report that modern ICTs make physical location unimportant. I also pointed out that if decentralisation increases Government transport costs, this is a reason for not doing it. Predictably they did not respond. However, undoubtably they’ll follow this up with a proposal that the army be sent around hurting people to increase demand for local hospital services.

“ ………….“Projects promoting balanced regional development will only be achieved if a ‘weighting’ is applied when deciding national priorities. An additional ‘weighting’ means that the vital function that our rail network has in ‘fast-tracking’ the West region’s development is indeed recognised,” said Ms McAllister. …………..”

I think this is a very nice way of saying ‘the WRC makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and you’d be much better off spending the money somewhere else.’

Kobie

Hopefully they're not too far away:

http://www.dublinbus.ie/projects/in...ting_system.asp

Yeah, but naturally it'll cost €60 million to do the feasibility study & will fall apart within weeks of being installed (circa 2025).

thejollyrodger

Originally posted by Kobie
It works brilliantly, but what are the chances of every seeing something similar in this kip?

ya, Im down with kobie, isnt irelands infastructure like so 3rd world !! haha LOL even Turkey is better than this place!! HAHA Irish infastructure SUCKS

West Briton

Sure if according to Colm MacCarthy even Dublin is unsuited to railways what hope is there? This from the man who opposed the DART twenty years ago.

Unless of course you drive a Mercedes. I'm surprised that more of our Great and Good haven't bought Maybachs yet, to put the rest of us even further in our place.

Borzoi

Originally posted by P11 Comms

Construction of tube crossing will be financed by a 86.8 billion U.S. dollars loan obtained from the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC). Meanwhile, nearly 700 million U.S. dollars loan will be used to finance construction of its commuter connections.

Current(ish) estimates:
Luas €775
Port Tunnel €600
Metro €1500

Total about €3bn or say $5bn US. Still leaves alot of change from $86.6bn. Maybe enough to build a stadium:D

Not really sure what the point of mentioning the Turks was? Care to enlighten?

halkar

P11, its 86billion Japanese Yen not $$$s The cost is around 800Million US $$$s total cost will be around 2.5 Billion $$$s including the cost of :
Building the tunnel under see of about 1.6 km
Building the tunnels aproaching the sea tunnel of about 12.2 km
European side upgrades of 19.6 km
Asian side upgrades of 43.4 km
Totalling 76. 8 km and to be completed by 2009 .
Can someone tell me how many Kms is Luas at what cost? Considering it is not going under 55 meters of sea and its not going under land either and not constructed strong enough to stand to scale 9 earthquakes, I think 2.6b $$ is cheap, same thing in Ireland probably would have cost 20b $$$:D

Istanbul metro, light rail, tram system is huge and still on going. They are upgrading their trams to these:


All ready to roll


Pooooor Ireland

halkar

While we are at Turkey, Estram (Eskisheir Tram Project) 16.2 kms, 26 stops started at 20.06.2002 and finishing in July. Trams are already rolling in some lines. The cost is € 100 million yoyos Check this out, they won some awards City of Eskisheir has about 500.000 population.



Now tell me if we are not being ripped off

thejollyrodger

the more i read about this country the more I laugh and laugh and laugh LOL !!

I cant wait to see these guys start the Metro here !! more laughin

Kobie

AFAIK LUAS is 23km. Not sure the exact cost (is anybody?) but I do remember hearing that it's cost more that Autralia's new Ghan line which is over 2,000km and also more expensive than Madrid's new Metro system (which was completed in a fraction of the time).

No doubt this has all been covered as nauseum on this board.