Luas

Luas ( Irish pronunciation: ; "speed"), also promoted in the development stage as the Dublin Light Rail System, is a tram or light rail system serving Dublin, the first such system in the decades since the closure of the last of the Dublin tramways. In 2007, the system carried 28.4 million passengers, a growth of 10% since 2006.

There are currently two Luas lines. The Green line commenced operations on 30 June 2004, while the Red Line opened on 26 September 2004. As of October 2010, the system has 49 stations and of track.

The Luas is operated by Veolia Transport, under tender from the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA). It is a major part of the Dublin Transportation Office's strategy (2000–2016). There is currently one extension to the existing lines under construction, while several more extensions as well as new lines are at the planning stage.

History
The idea for a new tram or light rail system for the city of Dublin was first suggested in 1994, by a Dublin Transportation Initiative (DTI) report, which referenced the original Dublin tramways, once running over and reaching most parts of the city. Following this report Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), the state-owned public transport operator in Ireland, was asked to study the different options. They recommended two phases for the construction of a tram system:


 * Phase 1: Tallaght to Dundrum/Balally via the City Centre
 * Phase 2: Ballymun to the City Centre and Dundrum/Balally to Sandyford

The Transport Act, 1996 created a legal framework for CIÉ to build a tram system and in May 1997 the company applied for a Light Railway Order to construct the first phase, as well as the Dundrum/Balally to Sandyford part of phase 2.

An inquiry started in July 1997, but was put on hold to investigate the possibility of underground sections in the city centre. In May 1998 the government decided to build two lines, amending the plans. The first was to run from Tallaght to Connolly Station, while the second would run from Sandyford Industrial Estate to Dublin Airport, through the city centre and Ballymun. Part of the second was to be underground through the city centre.

The responsibility for developing the Luas was transferred from CIÉ to the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA), a separate government agency created in 2001.

Construction work began in March 2001 on the Tallaght to Connolly line, as well as the Sandyford to St. Stephen's Green section of the second line, with Ansaldo of Italy and MVM of Australia getting the contract to build the system. The St. Stephen's Green to Dublin Airport section was dropped before construction began, as it was decided to serve the area by a metro instead. The contract to maintain operate the system was awarded to Veolia Transport Ireland (formerly known as Connex).

The development of the Luas Red Line was facilitated by EU funding of €82.5 million under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and part of the cost of some proposed line extensions (e.g. over 50% of Line B1 to Cherrywood) is being raised though levies on development in areas close to the projected route.

Launch


The original launch date for the Luas was to be 2003, but delays in construction saw this date pushed back by a year. An advertising campaign took place to inform the public of the development of the system, while construction was taking place. Construction finished in February 2004 and a period of testing and driver training began. 30 June 2004 was decided on as the official launch date of the Green Line. The first tram went into service for the general public at 3 p.m. Several days of free ridership and a family fun weekend took place to launch the system. The Red Line opened on 26 September 2004, with six days of free travel for the general public.

2004 to present
By November 2006, over 50 million journeys had been made on the system. Around 90,000 Luas trips are made each day. 28.4 million journeys were made in 2007. 27.4 million journeys were made in 2008. 25.4 million journeys were made in 2009. To date, the busiest day on the Luas system was Friday, 21 December 2007 when 145,000 passenger journeys were recorded.

Luas operates without a State subvention. The service recorded a surplus of €985,000 (€680,000 in 2004) - an achievement well ahead of an anticipated deficit of €2.5 million.

On the 8 December 2009 the Red Line C1 Connolly to Docklands extension opened. There are 4 stops: George's Dock, Mayor Square, Spencer Dock (serving the new Docklands railway station, approximately 500m away) and terminating in Point Village, opposite the The O2-this extension however bypasses Connolly. Construction started at the beginning of June 2007. Test runs began on the line in September 2009 before the opening.

The Railway Procurement Agency noted in their annual report that passenger numbers fell for the first time in 2009. The Luas had 25.4m passengers in 2009.

In June 2010, plans to join the two luas tracks were finalised.

Stations and lines
The network currently comprises two routes:
 * 1) Red Line: The Point to central Tallaght,
 * 2) Green Line: St. Stephen's Green to Cherrywood,

The Red Line runs in an east-west direction through Dublin's Northside, then crosses the River Liffey and travels southwest to the heavily populated suburb of Tallaght.

The Green Line is entirely in the south side of Dublin city. It follows the route of the old Harcourt Street railway line, which was reserved for possible re-use when it closed in 1958. The Red Line and Green Line are not yet connected to each other, with a 15-minute walk between the two closest points. There are a total of 23 stops on the Red Line and 22 on the Green Line.

Track and rolling stock
The system operates on a 750 V DC overhead power supply. The international standard rail gauge of 1435 mm (4 ft 8½in) is used, rather than the Irish 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in).

The silver Citadis trams, manufactured in La Rochelle by French multinational Alstom, reach a top speed of 70 km/h on off-street sections between Red Cow and Kylemore etc., but travel at a slower speed on-street where conflicts with other vehicles or pedestrians can occur. The 26 initial Red Line '3000' class trams were 30-m long Citadis 301 configurations with a capacity of 256. The 14 Green Line '4000 class' trams, each 40 m Citadis 401 configurations, have a capacity of 358 including two wheelchairs. Starting in 2007, all the Red line trams were upgraded to 40 m by inserting two more articulated sections, with the last one converted by June 2008. Both configurations of tramcars are fully compatible with both the Red and the Green Lines.

In other aspects, the two lines are identical except that the interaxis width between the tracks on the Green Line is slightly wider than on the Red Line. Note that this does not relate to the track gauge of 1435 mm, which is identical on both lines. This will allow wider metro trains be run on the same tracks if a proposed upgrade to full metro service is implemented. This is possible because the route uses an old railway line and as such has few interactions with vehicular or pedestrian traffic. The Red Line was constructed largely on or beside public roads and is not suited to wider and faster metro trains. The Railway Procurement Agency has stated (November 2006) that "We still envisage conversion of almost all Luas lines to light metro standard in the long-term."

The main engineering structures on the Green Line at present are Milltown Viaduct, also known as The Nine Arches, a large stone viaduct dating from 1854, and the William Dargan Bridge, a large new cable-stayed suspension bridge at Taney Cross, near Dundrum town centre.

The first of the new 43-m trams arrived at the Sandyford depot on 23 February 2009. They are known as the '5000 class'. The Green Line trams were stored at the new sidings at Sandyford. 26 trams were ordered for both the Red and Green lines, and all came into service in June 2009.

Ticketing
Luas tickets are purple in colour and credit card sized. They bear a magnetic stripe on the back although this is not used on Luas itself. Uniquely among Dublin's public transport, tickets are not checked upon boarding trams and an honour system, combined with random inspections, is used.

Ticket machines operate at every Luas stop and these are the only source of single-journey and return tickets. They also sell 1-day, 7-day and 30-day tickets, valid in either some or all the fare zones, for adults, children and students. It is also possible to purchase tickets valid on Luas and Dublin Bus. There is also a ticket valid on Luas plus Irish Rail commuter and DART services as far as Balbriggan and Maynooth. This is only available from Irish Rail ticket offices, not machines, and costs €8.60 as of May 2008. Certain ticket combinations are not possible (for example a one-day student ticket), and tickets can only be valid from the stop at which they are purchased and must commence their validity immediately. Certain tickets require the user to hold an ID card and write the number on the ticket, to prevent the ticket from being transferred to another person. Ticket machines accept card payments (by American Express, Laser, MasterCard, or Visa for transactions between €5 and €50 (larger transactions are not permitted due to the risk of fraud as the machines do not have chip and PIN equipment, and smaller transactions are not permitted due to processing costs).

Luas tickets are sold at newsagents and other shops, mostly in the vicinity of Luas stops. Joint Luas and Dublin Bus tickets can be purchased from Luas vending machines for immediate use, as well as from Dublin Bus ticket agents. Tickets bought at Dublin Bus agents must be validated on a bus before being valid for a tram (since Luas does not use ticket validation systems upon boarding the tram). Certain tickets are cheaper in shops than at ticket machines.

Both lines are divided into five zones, the central zone being shared. Fares are calculated based on how many zones a journey is taken through. There is a stop on the border of each zone, which is considered to be in whichever zone is more beneficial to the traveller. The two lines do not connect, but it is possible to purchase tickets that are valid for a journey using both lines. It is necessary to walk or take other transport between the two lines, most commonly between St. Stephen's Green (on the green line) and Abbey Street (on the red line). Alternatives include buses (the number 92 links St. Stephen's Green to Heuston and the number 18 links Ranelagh to Kylemore, although these are not included on the ticket) and taxis.

Smartcard
In March 2005 the Luas smartcard was launched. This allows travellers to pay for travel on the Luas network. Credit is pre-loaded onto the smartcard at ticket machines by cash, debit card or credit card, with a minimum top-up of €5 and a maximum credit on the card of €100, and the customer must validate the card using readers on the platform before boarding the tram and then again after exiting the tram. This is referred to as 'tag-on' and 'tag-off'.

A smartcard can be purchased at a Luas ticket agent or online. The card costs €10, which includes a €3 non-refundable charge for the card, €3 of credit and €4 for a fully refundable 'reserve fund' which allows travel even if there is insufficient credit on the card for the journey. However, the card must then be topped up before another journey can be taken.

Smartcard fares are slightly cheaper than standard single and return fares from ticket machines. For example, a journey within a single zone costs €1.25 with the card, compared to €1.50 (€1.60 during peak time) single with a paper ticket, or €2.80 return. However, daily, 7-day and 30-day tickets generally work out cheaper, unless used only rarely. Unlike London's Oyster card, Luas smartcards are unable to store multiple-journey tickets and these tickets are issued on paper only.

Dublin's state-run bus company Dublin Bus has also begun a prepaid Smartcard system, but this is currently a separate system to that used by the Luas. The state-run railway company, Iarnród Éireann introduced Smartcards in 2010.

Although rolled out by the RPA, the Luas Smartcard is not compatible with the Railway Procurement Agency's integrated ticketing system Smartcards.

The Railway Procurement Agency's integrated ticketing system, when completed, should allow travellers to use the one card to pay for travel on all public transport in Ireland. This project began in 2001 and is many years behind schedule and is estimated to cost €30m to complete. It is expected to be fully operational in Dublin in 2010, and to become a national system in later years. As of March 25th, 2011, this system did not appear to be yet available, although Dublin Bus prints a claim that "[it] is working with Dublin's Transport Operators and the RPA to have a full integrated ticketing scheme wit ha single card available for use on all public transport services" on its "3-day rambler" smart cart tickets.

Hours of operation and frequency
Trams operate from 05:30 to 00:30 Monday to Friday. On Saturday the Green Line begins operating at 06:15, while the Red Line begins at 06:30. Both lines close at 00:30 on Saturday nights. On Sundays the Green Line runs from 06:45 to 23:30, while the Red Line runs from 07:00 to 23:30. Bank holidays are the same as Sundays, except trams run until 00:30. Services run at regular intervals, from every 4–5 minutes during peak times to every 15 minutes late at night.

Accessibility


The low floors and wide spaces of the Citadis trams mean that wheelchair users can easily board. All stations have also been designed with ramps, to allow easy access. Several have lifts, such as Kilmacud and Dundrum on the Green Line, while Connolly Station has escalators that connect the Luas station to the main station building. The Luas website also has an accessibility newsletter.



Safety
Before the Luas was launched a Safety Awareness Day was held in Dublin City Centre. Also thousands of reflective armbands were distributed to pedestrians and cyclists, in order to ensure their visibility for tram drivers. This policy seems to have worked as the Luas has been described as being "one of the safest transport systems in the world". Both trams and stops are monitored using CCTV 24 hours a day from the central control room, located in the Red Cow Depot. The first fatality following an accident on the Luas was in February 2008, after a man was struck by a tram in Tallaght. Apart from this there have been many occurrences of cars striking trams, mainly caused by motorists breaking red lights. On 16 September 2009, a Luas collided with a Dublin Bus on the O'Connell Street-Abbey Street Junction. 22 people were injured in the collision, 3 seriously, including the tram driver.

Early investigations have suggested that the bus had the green light to move, and that the Luas must have had technical problems. The Luas driver was later charged with dangerous driving causing harm and operating a tram in a manner which posed risk to others.

Security
In February 2009 the company responsible for the management of the Luas system Veolia Transport terminated its contract with Federal security, an Irish based private security firm and the contract to provide security services in and around the Luas system was won by STT Rail Security, an Irish based company specialising in rail/transit security.

This change was due to the increase in violence, criminal damage, breaches of byelaws and anti-social behaviour on board the trams. It is unclear whether the situation has improved since, and beggars are commonly seen at tram stops soliciting coin change from users of ticket vending machines.

Issues
The cost of building the original Red and Green Lines was €728m. It was envisaged in the original plans that the Green Line would intersect the Red Line at O'Connell Street. However two separate unconnected lines were built, leaving a 15 minute walk - through O'Connell Street, Westmoreland Street, College Green and Grafton Street - between the two lines. Plans to link the lines were announced with the proposed building of the BX Line under Transport 21; this has since been postponed indefinitely.

Park and ride charges have also attracted criticism. The cost of parking for a full day is €4. It was described by former government TD and head of the Dáil transport Committee Eoin Ryan as "unacceptable for Luas to charge passengers for parking at their Park and Ride facilities on top of ticket fares".

Notable incidents
There have been several incidents involving the Luas, often leading to its temporary closure.

2009 double-decker Dublin Bus/Luas collision
At 3 p.m. on 16 September 2009 a red line Luas tram and a double-decker number 16 Dublin Bus collided at the intersection of Abbey Street and O'Connell Street in Dublin city centre. The front section of the tram was derailed in the incident and the driver's cabin was crushed flat against the left hand side of the bus. At least 21 people were injured and three were seriously hurt, including the driver of the tram who had to be cut out from the wreckage.

Future
There are currently plans for some new Luas lines, as well as extensions to the two existing lines. In the original plans, Line B was the original name for the Green Line, and the Red Line route comprised Line A from Tallaght to Abbey Street and Line C from Abbey Street to Connolly Station. This terminology is still used for forward planning (e.g. on the Red Line route proposal A1 extends the original Line A and proposal C1 extends the original Line C).

The Transport 21 plan covering the period 2005-2015 announced by the Minister for Transport on 1 November 2005 provides funding for seven Luas projects.

Under construction

 * Line A1 – Tallaght to Saggart link. This will be a extension, funded by a Public Private Partnership with property developers. Originally intended to be a spur off the existing Red Line to Fortunestown, it was later decided to bring the line to Saggart. Construction started on 9 February 2009, with the line scheduled to be complete by late 2010 and operating in early 2011. Transport Minister Noel Dempsey was in Citywest on 23 September to mark the start of track-laying through the Citywest Business Campus.

From Sunday, 13th March 2011, all overhead and ground level electricity cables on Luas Citywest, will be live. Passenger operations will commence in July 2011.

Planned under Transport 21
It has emerged that the planned lines BX and D will be built together as line BXD.


 * Line D – City Centre to Liffey Junction. This will serve Grangegorman, the site of the new DIT campus. This line will link with the Maynooth line. Construction has not yet started. The completion date is 2012. The RPA intends to apply for a Railway Order application to An Bord Pleanála in 2009 for a combined Line D / Line BX Luas Line that will run from St. Stephen’s Green to Broombridge via the city centre and Broadstone / Grangegorman.


 * Line BX – City Centre link for Red and Green Lines. The RPA started public consultation on the route in December 2005. In March 2007 the preferred route was announced. This will see run from St. Stephens Green to College Green where the line changes from a double track to single track. From here it runs north through Westmoreland St., over O’Connell Bridge and along the west side of O’Connell St. to Cathal Brugha St. It then turns east into Cathal Brugha St. and turns south to run along Marlborough St., across the River Liffey on a new bridge, continues along Hawkins St. and College St. and joins up with the double track section of the line at College Green. Construction has not yet started. 2012 is the completion date given in the Transport 21 plans. The RPA intends to apply for a Railway Order application to An Bord Pleanála soon for a combined Line D / Line BX Luas Line that will run from St. Stephen’s Green to Broombridge via the city centre and Broadstone / Grangegorman.


 * Line F1/2 – City Centre to Lucan. On 27 September 2007, Noel Dempsey (Minister for Transport) launched the public consultation process for the planned Luas line to Lucan. Two main route options have been identified, with a number of sub-options also identified. It is expected that it will link with Metro West. The preferred route was announced in November 2008 and the RPA are now planning the precise alignment and station and depot locations. Construction has not yet started. 2013 is the completion date given in the Transport 21 plan. The planning for the two lines has now been split in two. Line F1 will be the line from Lucan to where it will connect with the existing red line at Blackhorse and Line F2 will be where the line will leave the existing red line at James and continue on to College Green.


 * Line B2 – Cherrywood to Bray environs extension (Green Line). This is an extension of . On 6 June 2007, the route of this Luas extension was announced. It will run from Cherrywood to Fassaroe and Bray (adjacent to Daly station), and will run very close to the M11 motorway, eventually crossing it near the Wilford interchange. Construction has not yet started. It is predicted to open in 2015.

Other projects
In May 2008, the feasibility study for a possible Luas line E, to run from Dundrum to the City Centre via Rathfarnham, Terenure and Harold's Cross, was completed. The line was found to be feasible and it has been submitted to the Minister for Transport and awaits confirmation.

With the success of the Luas system in Dublin, there is very strong support for bringing tram to other Irish cities. During the 2007 election campaign Fianna Fáil and the Green Party both announced plans for tram systems in Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Bray. The 2007 Programme for Government between these two parties and the Progressive Democrats included a section which ensured feasibility studies would be carried out on these projects within the first two years of the government. Cork and Limerick were expected to complete their studies by "mid 2009".

On-board announcements
Since 2010 all on-board luas announcements have been voiced by Doireann Ní Bhriain, to coincide with the opening of the new Point and Brides Glen lines.