Luas Cross City (Line BX/D) [now open]

Dyr

Looks like the pedestrian junction at pearse street/townsend street is going to be another pigs arse, Most of the pedestrian development in dublin is going to be a mouse maze at this rate

Pixel Eater

A bit of a design flaw on the upper O'Connel Street stop (seems unnecessary stop to me anyway):
three poles at the pedestrian crossing, the one where you press the button for the traffic lights to change is before the tracks but the other two (for holding the cables and the Luas stop/go lights) are at the far side (of the racks) before the road. Seems likely a lot of people will go to the road and possibly be caught between the tram and a busy road on a very narrow piece of footpath.

Also the wide section of footpath on where Grafton Street and College Green merge (opposite Trinity) is pretty uneven tarmac; is this to be repaved? Why didn't they do that when they were working on the lines?

Jamie2k9

Pixel Eater wrote: »

A bit of a design flaw on the upper O'Connel Street stop (seems unnecessary stop to me anyway):
three poles at the pedestrian crossing, the one where you press the button for the traffic lights to change is before the tracks but the other two (for holding the cables and the Luas stop/go lights) are at the far side (of the racks) before the road. Seems likely a lot of people will go to the road and possibly be caught between the tram and a busy road on a very narrow piece of footpath.

Also the wide section of footpath on where Grafton Street and College Green merge (opposite Trinity) is pretty uneven tarmac; is this to be repaved? Why didn't they do that when they were working on the lines?

College Green has been leveled out and covered in a yellow color, guess not going to wast money until College Green Plaza is completed.

theskeptic

The same temporary yellow covering has been used at the top of Grafton St. This is due to be repaved.

This yellow pavement covering is also on Hawkins St as the Screen Cinema and Hawkins House are due for demolition and redevelopment.

The same covering is also at the corner of Dawson and Nassau St (West side) as that building is also due for demolition and redevelopment; this one will be quite awkward to develop I image with a Luas line on two sides of the block and Grafton St on the third side

wakka12

theskeptic wrote: »

The same temporary yellow covering has been used at the top of Grafton St. This is due to be repaved.

This yellow pavement covering is also on Hawkins St as the Screen Cinema and Hawkins House are due for demolition and redevelopment.

The same covering is also at the corner of Dawson and Nassau St (West side) as that building is also due for demolition and redevelopment; this one will be quite awkward to develop I image with a Luas line on two sides of the block and Grafton St on the third side

Anyone know if a fountain is being installed at top of grafton street? I saw it in some early luas renders..it was supposed to be installed in conjunction with the luas extension opening and the widening of paths around stephens green/grafton street.
I think it would look nice and also could act as a bollard in case of terrorist attacks without having to place ugly bollards there.

trellheim

Grangegorman do say there should be a way through to the campus when it opens.

MJohnston

trellheim wrote: »

Grangegorman do say there should be a way through to the campus when it opens.

I'm guessing it'll be a gravel path or perhaps something with basic paving. I walked past where the 'gateway' from the DIT campus to the Luas stop is supposed to be, and there has been no change to it from how it was years ago - it's an overgrown rubble field surrounded by iron fencing. They'll have to scramble to put something in place as they'd promised.

Reuben1210

MJohnston wrote: »

I'm guessing it'll be a gravel path or perhaps something with basic paving. I walked past where the 'gateway' from the DIT campus to the Luas stop is supposed to be, and there has been no change to it from how it was years ago - it's an overgrown rubble field surrounded by iron fencing. They'll have to scramble to put something in place as they'd promised.

Slightly OT, but when is grangegorman supposed to be taking the majority of the relocations from around the city?

Is it that some of their building plans are still caught up in planning?

yabadabado

Reuben1210 wrote: »

Slightly OT, but when is grangegorman supposed to be taking the majority of the relocations from around the city?

Is it that some of their building plans are still caught up in planning?

Last I read there was delays because of an action taken by one of the failed tenders on the project.
IiRC its delayed until 2019 before they will launch.

jamo2oo9

Reuben1210 wrote: »

Slightly OT, but when is grangegorman supposed to be taking the majority of the relocations from around the city?

Is it that some of their building plans are still caught up in planning?

They aim to have everyone located to Grangegorman by 2022 but there's rumour flying around that they may not move Bolton St at all

wakka12

Reuben1210 wrote: »

Slightly OT, but when is grangegorman supposed to be taking the majority of the relocations from around the city?

Is it that some of their building plans are still caught up in planning?

Im not sure but its an absolutely massive project and takes some time to complete so regardless of delays it would always take a while. I havnt heard about delays but I know the campus was never supposed to be entirely finished before 2019/20 or later. O'donnell and tuomy are only desiging the library now for instance

MJohnston

There was an update about this recently that I saw in their GDA newsletter (they posted it through letterboxes here in D7):

Construction to Begin Again in Grangegorman

The arrival of Autumn sees a fourth year of DIT students in Grangegorman and should also see an end to the construction lull on the site.

The construction of two major new buildings on the Grangegorman site will hopefully begin in November. The Central Quad and East Quad together will bring over 10,000 students and staff to Grangegorman once complete. As with all Grangegorman projects, the GDA, in association with the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) will hold a “Meet the Contractor” event for the community prior to construction commencing. The GDA will advertise when this event will take place once the commencement date is finalised.

In the run up to the start of construction there will be testing on the two sites along with the placement of a range of environmental monitoring devices around the area.

The Central Quad will be home to ten schools from the College of Sciences & Health, College of Engineering & Built Environment and the College of Arts & Tourism.

The East Quad will be home to four schools from the College of Arts & Tourism.

yabadabado

Central Quad and East Quad are the areas that were delayed .They expected them to be opened this Autumn but are now expecting September 2019.

lateconnection

Anyone know when the new 54m trams are arriving?

Jamie2k9

lateconnection wrote: »

Anyone know when the new 54m trams are arriving?

Very soon and will arrive through until March, probally 2 by the time it opens.

monument

trellheim wrote: »

Grangegorman do say there should be a way through to the campus when it opens.

Grangegorman has already gone against its planning conditions by not providing that link when students first arrived on the site and also by having time-limited western access.

The ABP conditions made it clear these access points were primarily ones and must be open by the time students started to arrive.

It’s lovely how Dublin City Council won’t take its enforcement roll seriously!!!

wakka12

monument wrote: »

Grangegorman has already gone against its planning conditions by not providing that link when students first arrived on the site and also by having time-limited western access.

The ABP conditions made it clear these access points were primarily ones and must be open by the time students started to arrive.

It’s lovely how Dublin City Council won’t take its enforcement roll seriously!!!

Its hard to enforce that though. Like obviously they would have liked to have that open for their students by now if possible, its their college and their reputation on the line. theyre not keeping it closed to piss people off
Obviously delays occurred and things didnt work out as planned, any enforcement will onlu push harder on their time and budgetary constraints

And I know these enforcements do need to be in place but at the same time I think itd be counter productive to 'punish' them for the delay

trellheim

will there be a reduction in red line sets to run BXD then

LXFlyer

There are enough lying around spare to facilitate the extension. Nowehere near the full complement is used each day.

However I wouldn’t be expecting miracles in terms of frequency to/from Broombridge until the new trams enter service in the spring. Keep initial expectations low!

Jamie2k9

LXFlyer wrote: »

There are enough lying around spare to facilitate the extension. Nowehere near the full complement is used each day.

However I wouldn’t be expecting miracles in terms of frequency to/from Broombridge until the new trams enter service in the spring. Keep initial expectations low!

They will probably have around 6 net trams when it opens. I would expect a 10 minute service throughout the day like Docklands gets. Anything less will be unwelcome PR for everybody involved.

LXFlyer

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

They will probably have around 6 net trams when it opens. I would expect a 10 minute service throughout the day like Docklands gets. Anything less will be unwelcome PR for everybody involved.

As I said. Keep your expectations low for the northern end.

Jamie2k9

LXFlyer wrote: »

As I said. Keep your expectations low for the northern end.

To me 10 minutes is more than acceptable, your not suggesting 15 minutes are you?

It would be gross incompetence by NTA or TII or whoever placed the tram order if gaps over 10 minutes arise outside the periods on existing lines.

LXFlyer

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

To me 10 minutes is more than acceptable, your not suggesting 15 minutes are you?

It would be gross incompetence by NTA or TII or whoever placed the tram order if gaps over 10 minutes arise outside the periods on existing lines.

Well we shall have to wait and see.

But I suspect a few people are going to have to eat their words over on the other forum.

For what it is worth, if that were the case, I would entirely agree with you.

At the same time, the date for an ABP decision on the College Green plaza has now been deferred to the end of April 2018 - it will be interesting to see what traffic changes (if any) come in once operations start in the meantime.

Sierra Oscar

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Passenger services are due to start operating from Friday December 15th.

They've now confirmed services will begin on Saturday 9th December.

Luas Cross City to operate from December 9

dixiefly

Thats great to see.

Btw, does anyone know if there will be a bridge across from the rail line at Broombridge to the Luas line?

veryangryman

Can anyone see the traffic situation improving around the city as a result of this? Am sceptical myself if we'll see any major improvement

MJohnston

veryangryman wrote: »

Can anyone see the traffic situation improving around the city as a result of this? Am sceptical myself if we'll see any major improvement

Very much doubt it, because the areas newly served are areas most people would currently use buses to commute from, not cars. I’d suspect most of the cars on the Quays are coming from further out the N4 and N3 corridors.

MrMorooka

dixiefly wrote: »

Thats great to see.

Btw, does anyone know if there will be a bridge across from the rail line at Broombridge to the Luas line?

There was one on the plans and in the artists impressions, I haven't been on the ground recently so no idea if it's actually being built.

mrsdewinter

dixiefly wrote: »

Thats great to see.

Btw, does anyone know if there will be a bridge across from the rail line at Broombridge to the Luas line?

There's currently building work on a site that appears to 'straddle' the current Dublin-Sligo railway line, which I assume will become a footbridge. It won't be ready by December 9, though.

dixiefly

MJohnston wrote: »

Very much doubt it, because the areas newly served are areas most people would currently use buses to commute from, not cars. I’d suspect most of the cars on the Quays are coming from further out the N4 and N3 corridors.

I think that there is a chance that it will improve things. I mostly drive into town and sometimes use M3 Docklands train but I find that the links are too poor from Docklands and the train too slow.

Depending on how the Broombridge link to Luas works out I am interested in giving it a go at least some of the days each week.