New Master Plan for Cherrywood

What I am doing is pointing out that LUAS is not, nor was it ever designed to be, high speed rail which you seem to think it is. You may not want to hear that, but frankly you need to accept it.

It is light rail not rapid rail. Its primary purpose is to move large numbers of people while serving stops all along the route. If the LUAS wasn't there how long do you think it would take to drive to the city or to travel on the bus.

Incidentally in the interests of fairness:

LUAS Green Line from St. Stephen's Green to Brides Glen is 15.7km long, has 20 stops and takes 40 minutes. 7.5km of that is south of Sandyford going via Ballyogan with at least 5km being on a twisting non-grade seperated deviation to serve the housing developments along Ballyogan Road.

Metrolink from Piccadilly Gardens to Bury is 16.7km, has 13 stops and takes 35 minutes, with 14km of that being along the old railway line and fully segregated.

That suggests that the LUAS Green Line is more than comparable with Metrolink to Bury.

The bottom line is that it is doing what it is designed to do, i.e. as a large capacity people mover delivering reliable journey times and taking thousands of people out of their cars.

What it is called and what it was designed to do are two different things.

The 5km of the line from Sandyford to Carrickmines could never be high speed. It has several tight turns and numerous road crossings at grade, and five stops.

Had the line continued along the old reservation through Foxrock, there would probably have been only two stops, one at Leopardstown Road, and the other at Foxrock Village.

When you take into account the additional stops, lower speeds due to the road crossings and the twisting nature of the route, it would mean that trams take about 7-8 minutes longer by going across the M50 to serve Ballyogan than had they stayed on the original route.

That's the bottom line for why LUAS takes longer than you or "The Nal" think it should - it's serving the offices at Central Park and all the houses along Ballyogan Road. It cannot do that at any high speed.

Sounds like we need two posters to do a few Top Gear style challenges here

LXFlyer running up the hill to catch the LUAS

I got the Luas from Leopardstown Valley to town every day for a year before lockdown. Before that I lived in Bootherstown and relied on the Dart every day, and even back before that used to commute on the 46a.

By a country mile my favourite commute is the Luas, even though it takes 42 minutes to get from LV to O'Connell St. Yes, I could cycle it faster. Yes, I could probably get the bus slightly faster. But after experiencing other modes of public transport in Dublin I can tell you that the massive plus point of the Luas is reliability. There's no chance that four buses will pass you at rush hour because it's raining and they're all full (that used to happen on the N11 right up to about 10am). There's no chance you'll just miss a Luas and then have to wait half an hour for the next one, because two diesel trains also have to the use the line right in the middle of rush hour, as would happen every day with the Dart. I leave my house at the same time, and I get in at the same time. No stressing about missing a meeting. No stressing about being late for the childminder.

It will of course be a large p*in in the a*se when Cherrywood comes online if they don't put on extra Luases. But we'll just have to hope that lots of large employers will implement hybrid working arrangements and that will reduce the pressure.

Does anyone know when Cherrywood is due to be finished?

So 1hr 24 minutes for a 12 mile round trip. Crazy thats the best we've got.

I would cut some of the stops that are close together,

anywhere its a 10 minute walk, lazy ass people will have to walk further.

have technology installed to allow LUAS drivers to override any red lights to keep moving.

On the straight sections, increase the speed.

The problem with stops further apart and calling people lazy is it almost assumed that it’s a ten minute walk but if someone has a ten or fifteen minute walk already then it’s a 25 minute walk that might be the difference between them using the luas or another mode. It’s a tram it was designed to stop frequently.

Looking for folks who have put a booking deposit down for a Phase 1 home in Cherry Lane (by Quintain). We've been waiting on contracts since Nov 2021 and have been repeatedly told by Sherry Fitz that "they're almost ready".

Is anyone else in the same spot? We haven't found a way of soliciting a response from Quintain so hoping to hear from others.

I passed cherrywood luas stop and see there is a tesco Express opening here

I dont know if it will ever become a proper town as such. Cherrywood business park has a few thousand working there. Alot in the surrounding area get drawn up to the luas line at Cherrywood which will be on the main street and there will be a total of 5000 new homes so might be enough to sustain a viable main street. But with carickmines and dundrum will it be a go to place for clothes shopping They said they would put in cinemas too but i think theyre really struggling lately. Maybe an aldi could go in there as the the nearest is Sallynoggin or Sandyford which are not that close. Dunnes Tesco and Lidl all have big stores not too far from there already.

I wonder are the developers focusing on building the homes rather than the shops and amenities to maximise the quick revenue from new home sales?

The parks etc are opened. Is a commercial retail unit an amenity?

My understanding would be that they deliver the retail units, whether or not they end up occupied is another thing.

Could end up like a Point Village 2.0

I dont know how many retail units there are at Cherrywood exactly, but my understanding is that its just a functional number for the locality, rather than a critical mass large enough to create a destination shopping area like Dundrum or LV, Blanch et al.

So realistically, are the good folk of Cherrywood going to be shopping in Carrickmines and Dundrum to buy anything outside of supermarket shopping?

I would say yes, probably.

Edit: TBF, Cherrywood is quoted by Hines as having 760k square foot of retail. Liffey Valley is 830k.

So the plan is for a significant centre. But as another poster said, will the good retailers want to occupy that close to Dundrum.