[Article] New Luas stops will not open due to downturn

[Colm Moore]

http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news...e-to-downturn/

New Luas stops will not open due to downturn
Conor McMorrow, Political Correspondent

WE already have hundreds of ghost housing estates and the latest monument to the economic bubble is set to be ghost tram stations along a new €300m Luas line.

The Sunday Tribune can reveal that some of the tram stations on the new 7.5km Luas Green line extension will not be operational when it opens.

The long-awaited Cherrywood extension, which will almost double the existing 9km line from St Stephen's Green to Sandyford, is expected to begin operating in October.

But the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA), the agency responsible for developing the state's light rail infrastructure, confirmed that two of the 12 stops will not be opened as they serve areas that are "not populated".

Stations at Brennanstown, which has not been developed as had been expected, and at Leopardstown Racecourse will not now open.

The RPA said the stops at Central Park, Glencairn, The Gallops, Leopardstown Valley, Ballyogan Wood, Carrickmines, Laughanstown Cherrywood and Brides Glen will be operational.

Brennanstown station will not be operational as the RPA said there was "currently no road infrastructure in the vicinity of the stop" and the area is not as populated as was expected when the Luas extension was planned.

The Cherrywood line has been funded by a public-private partnership and it has been reported that the extension will cost €300m, with most of that money coming from the public purse.

Developers who built housing schemes within a kilometre of the Luas line were charged a special development levy, which was expected to raise about €150m.

When asked about the cost of the project, a spokeswoman for the RPA said: "As the project has been funded by a combination of exchequer funding, Section 49 levies and contributions of land and works from developers along the route, it is not appropriate to release the exact monetary values of these elements while commercial negotiations are ongoing."

Many of the developments along the new Luas extension are apartment blocks of between five and seven storeys which are largely vacant.

Fine Gael's transport spokesman, Simon Coveney, said: "If we have invested in the cost of building these stations and now they are not opening them it seems to be pretty poor planning. It is another example of waste in expenditure.

"What we need is the detail of the cost of the planning and the cost of actually putting those stops in place so we get a clear picture of how much money has been wasted."

UCD transport planning expert, Dr Enda Murphy, believes having public transport facilities in place before residential development is built is best international practice.

[dowlingm]

I would rather RPA mothball the stops and have a faster, more attractive service to the other stops that would attract punters than listen to Simon Coveney's point scoring, while at the same time making it clear to potential buyers/developers at what tipping point their investment will lead to service being added to the "ghost" stops.

[on the move]

On a vaguely similiar subject, today was Open Day-Evening with Veolia honchos in the city centre. I put my case over the Red Cow Stop issue to 5 of them, most acknowledged the case put forward, one took contact details to report back, 2 others understood why the case was made. 2 others questioned why pedestrians have to be resourceful in accessing the stop, but were made aware in no uncertain terms why. They've all indicated that they will take those concerns to the RPA for consideration.

I await positive feedback, if any.

[Ronald Binge]

The Tribune article and the political response to it was a load of balls IMHO. I replied to it and also pointed out separately (which wasn't published on the site) that the picture purporting to be the Racecourse stop was actually Carrickmines station, which is of course going ahead.

Firstly, the Racecourse stop was only ever going to be "as required", in the same way that Curragh on the Cork Main Line is also only used at certain times. Secondly, I do not believe that there is any issue with Brennanstown, and I would point you all in the direction of the Metropolitan Railway between London and Buckinghamshire, which was developed on a speculative basis. Typically, Irish public discourse on projects is short termist and as evidenced with all the teenage economists getting hot under the collar over the WRC, railway projects are subject to a deeper level of scrutiny and a quicker jump to the phrase "white elephant" than other infrastructural projects. Also, when we are in a boom, folks think it will last forever and vice versa with the recession.

Building Brennanstown now means that the retro fitting costs in five years time will not be necessary. A bit of joined up thinking here instead of knee jerking please.

[dowlingm]

An extra stop on the Luas IS just like the WRC, if you're happy to ignore several orders of magnitude in ridership potential.

[on the move]

There have been developments, unfortunately of the wrong kind. Extra "Important Notice" signposts have been placed at the escape gates along the Red Cow Track Ramp. This does not go anyway towards meeting the previously mentioned request, for a more accessible stop.

As the RPA continue their refusal to construct a new stop to cater for pedestrians in the area, there will be no change in how I and other pedestrians access the current stop location, while other people in the area will continue to use more locally accessible transport, depriving the Luas/RPA of a sizeable chunk of local revenue.

We don't want notices, we don't want fences, we don't want bridges, we want a new stop. Full Stop.