Luas Finglas

spacetweek

There's reason to believe this might fly along. We've now had 6 Luas projects - the initial 2 lines and 4 extensions. We're old lags at this game.

cgcsb

Agree, lots of experience in the country already with this type of project. No really complex parts, bar the tricky broombridge part.

jd

The Consultation Report on the Preferred Route is up

https://downloads.luasfinglas.ie/reports/Luas%20Finglas%20Consultation%20Report%202022.pdf

I see Dublin City Council have asked for it to continue up St Margaret's Rd to connect with the proposed Metrolink Station at Northwood. This would bring it past IKEA, and DCC's new Central Depot which is under construction at the moment. They've also asked for the cycle track that was to run alongside it to be reinstated

Pete_Cavan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119427059#Comment_119427059

I think extending to Northwood would be a better idea than crossing the M50. It would probably have to involve sharing space with general traffic on a large section of St Margaret's Rd west of Hampton Wood Dr which would be less than ideal.

brianc89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119427319#Comment_119427319

Thanks for sharing the report. Great to see this future planning from DCC. Extending to Northwood and the Metro makes absolute sense.

This route could be a first step in a longer vision for Metro West, but it would need to be appropriately segregated so it can be upgraded later to Metro - not the full route from Broombridge - just the radial piece from Charlestown.

donvito99

Is there a new depot planned or is Broombridge the long term depot?

Peregrine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119427565#Comment_119427565

No, none are planned. An expanded Broombridge and Sandyford.

Muahahaha

If the current Lidl site on St Margarets Road is to be used for a park & ride will the supermarket survive or is it going to be part of a multi storey car park? How many spaces do people feel would be needed for a P&R, Im guessing at least 300 but even that could be undercooked with the amount of commuters coming down the N2

Murph85

4 years to construct 4km of line. Is that serious ?!

spacetweek

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119428900#Comment_119428900

Seems reasonable to me - it's through a built up area and from Wellmount Rd northwards will be quite disruptive to build.

roadmaster

The Tender for the GPR survey for luas finglas has being awarded it also included other GPR TII projects if needed such as Luas Lucan

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119428821#Comment_119428821

They have preliminary approval to go multistorey with parking at ground and first and the supermarket above it. Similar to the design of all current Lidl developments.

Muahahaha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119674765#Comment_119674765

Thanks. Was there ever anything reported as to why they reneged on putting the P&R opposite Charlestown Shopping Centre and chose Lidl on Stargarets Rd instead? Both locations seem strange to me, people are going to be stuck in traffic at rush hour to get in and out of the P&R

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119675910#Comment_119675910

Because the people drafting the preferred route just assumed the land facing Charlestown would be available.

It turns out it was privately owned with its on planning permission for apartments so the owner wasn’t gona just hand it over for peanuts.

Peregrine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119676629#Comment_119676629

Any piece of land is available to a state body like TII building infrastructure with compulsory purchase powers. There was no doubt that the land was privately owned and would have to be CPOed like several other properties in the same project.

The planning application was lodged after the route was announced. The NTA had every right to object and could 100% have stopped it if they wanted. Look at the Aldi site where the NTA said it would interfere with Luas Finglas but was willing to work with Aldi who were uncooperative and had their planning application refused.

The designers said that, by that stage, they had already moved on from the Charlestown site. The Lidl site keeps all the traffic on the North Road dual carriageway and keeps the site at Charlestown residential which would bring almost 1,500 people living right beside their stop. It was a win-win.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119676760#Comment_119676760

Agree.

same end result.

CatInABox

Sorry for a slightly off topic bump to this thread, but I think it is somewhat relevant. DCC have started a consultation on a draft Masterplan for the Jamestown industrial estate in Finglas. Looks pretty good in my opinion, although I think that it could have been set up as pure pedestrian on the inside, with parking on the outside, as has been done in other European cities.

https://twitter.com/DubCityCouncil/status/1640293816119746561

Muahahaha

Plenty of space for new houses in that industral estate, it is huge.

Was anything ever decided to do similar to the Dublin Industrial Estate at all? With the Luas at its doorstep and the extension running alongside the land should be used for high density housing.

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120407411#Comment_120407411

it's been suggested here numerous times, but I don't know if there is anything actually planned.

brianc89

I think it's a huge mistake not to include another Luas stop at the northern end of Dublin Industrial Estate. There will be 1.2km between Broombridge and St. Helena's stations.

Very short sighted in my opinion given the density of homes they could build there, not to mention direct access to the park.

CatInABox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120407473#Comment_120407473

Oh, it's planned alright. I believe the last thing I read was that they want to hold off until they have a masterplan complete for the estate before rezoning it, as some developers are already putting through planning applications in there for apartments.

It was really sparked off by ABP green-lighting a development on the Jamestown Industrial Estate, despite their objections that the masterplan was in the works. They won't rezone large tracts of land without a masterplan again.

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120407506#Comment_120407506

not exactly a huge job to add a station later. I'd imagine they'll put a bridge in to access Broombridge anyway.

brianc89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120410494#Comment_120410494

Ah you say that, but there are quite a lot of utilities required under the tracks and around the station itself. Without even considering that now, it makes it unlikely to happen.

Typical Irish planning - no one considered adding a station here to future proof thousands of new homes, which they will eventually build here.

L1011

Any housing masterplan is going to have a lot of utility diversion and redeployment works.

p_haugh

I just had a thought there, would the finglas extension require any new rolling stock? Furthermore, what's the average shelf-life of the Luas trams in general - some are getting on 20 years in service now.

bk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120416372#Comment_120416372

I don't know any official figures, but 40 years is a rough rule of thumb for Trams, though some can run for 60 years or longer, with heavy refurbs, etc.

I believe the first Citadis trams were delivered in 2000 in France and are still running today with no signs of them being replaced. Also I wonder if they did some heavy maintenance on them, when they extended them.

spacetweek

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120410738#Comment_120410738

Not a strong case for another station there - if you moved into the area Broombridge would be a better bet as it offers luas and DART.

brianc89

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120425716#Comment_120425716

How is it not a strong case? With the proposed new housing densities of 100-300 dwellings per hectare, there is potential to house 30,000 people in this area assuming 200dph and 3 average occupancy.

The average spacing between Luas stations on Green line is 650m, however the proposed spacing on the Finglas extension is 1.1km despite plans to build the highest density living in the entire city.

AngryLips

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120426445#Comment_120426445

Seeing the location on a map it really looks like you could achieve the same result by just having the appropriate pedestrian access to the existing Broombridge station. I mean, in an ideal situation you'd have one much earlier in Cabra and another at your proposed location, but that wouldn't work with the existing Irish Rail station so it wouldn't make sense.

MICKEYG

Agreed. Given the shape of the site an additional stop won't add much value.

Improved pedestrian access to the existing Broadstone stop (and Irish Rail station) is key.