transport21
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@markpb wrote:
Do you not see any advantage in building a fully segregated metro system that can run trams as often as needed, as long as needed and without any interference from bad driving, congestion, pedestrian conflict, parades or emergency services requiring access to nearby buildings? .
Agreed Metro North is better than Luas in engineering terms; you could however say that instead of buying new trains for use on the Dublin to Cork rail line that they should have built a new TGV spec line. Everything comes back to annual subvention cost per passenger and if the Luas Section serves Stephens Green to Ballymun it would be an investment that was just about proportionate in terms of balancing ridership and cost.
@markpb wrote:
What you’re suggesting is adding even more trains to an already over-crowded northern line operated by a very poor company. You’re also suggesting running even more on-street trams which will have more in common with the congested and slow red line than the green line which benefits from an existing right of way. .
I disagree that Irish Rail are a poor company they have in recent years when investments were made in renovating dilapidated track on a large scale for the first time since the 1920’s delivered a more reliable service in line with a more reliable network. I would point to Frankfurt where the on street tram network is extensive and heavily used; trams are inappropriate for journeys of over 10kms but used as part of an intergrated system they play a very useful role.
@markpb wrote:
The system you propose is also limited in it’s expansion possibilities so even if densities improves to the levels you require, the trams can’t be lengthened nor the frequencies increased because of the impact on other street traffic..
The trams will only serve small sections of population such as Ballymun to the existing Red and Green lines. Tallaght would get a Dart connection and at existing frequencies of 3-4 minutes at peak Luas is working well below its operating capacity if continental comparison is used. The only capacity constraint Luas has always been what the Dublin Chamber of Commerce imposes on it; Dawson Street was clearly a step too far.
@markpb wrote:
Finally, I’m not sure how Irish Rail planned on bringing a heavy rail line above ground into the airport without massive conflicts with the M1, R132 and the airport’s ground transportation system. The station would either be nowhere near the terminal buildings (ala CDG1) or a tunnel would have to be dug to get it underneath the buildings which would have huge cost. Perhaps the whole line from east of the M1 to the terminal would have to be tunnelled and since most of the cost of tunnelling is the entry points, it would be hugely expensive for the distance covered.
The cost of €400m by Irish Rail clearly factors in the engineering challenges of reaching Dublin Airport; the cost of the Pace extension is €160m for a 7.5kms extension; the distance from Dublin Airport to the existing Northern line is about 6.5kms in a line that passes south of the carpark complex between Swords Road and the M1; add a kilometre for curves and you have the same length of line as Pace but a budget that is 2.5 times the scale. Taking the distances considered acceptable at Heathrow to make terminals 1 and 3 from Heathrow Central and a walk from the end of Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 are extremely modest. In terms of the buildings all you have down there are the redundant Air-Cargo terminals built in 1987 which are hopelessly dated and Air Lingus don’t even do Cargo anymore since they morphed into a low cost carrier.
What does however concern me is the effect of teh Green party ammendment to the Nama legislation levying an 80% tax on land rezonings. Most of the route of MN north of Swords is Zoned Green Belt and policy GS2 in the development plan seeks to prevent the merging of Swords, Malahide, Donabate together.
The problem is that the MN passenger forecasts are predicated on 46% of passenger numbers joining the service before Swords; if developers have to hand 80% of their profits over in tax to have the land rezoned from Greenbelt then nothing will be built.
@PVC King wrote:
Taking the distances considered acceptable at Heathrow to make terminals 1 and 3 from Heathrow Central and a walk from the end of Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 are extremely modest. In terms of the buildings all you have down there are the redundant Air-Cargo terminals built in 1987 which are hopelessly dated and Air Lingus don’t even do Cargo anymore since they morphed into a low cost carrier.
Redundant? Out-dated? How so? From working in the airport I saw first hand how busy all those cargo buildings get! (and Aer Lingus still deal with cargo). The Aer Lingus cargo building also processes cargo for other airlines. (They used to do all the UPS cargo for the company I used to work for). Also how exactly is a warehouse “hoplessly out-dated”? :confused: They aren’t exactly aesthetically pleasing, but they are perfectly functional.
There is also a ‘ghost’ underground train station beneath the 1950’s passenger terminal building (T1). It’s never been used for anything bar storage. But is quite extensive and has twin bore tunnels extending out under the building in the direction of the M1. I’m not exactly sure how far they go though!
Dec you are correct Aer Lingus continue to behave like a flag carrier and throw good money after bad on cargo activities despite the positive changes they are making elsewhere in their passenger operations which will in tim get their P & L account back on track.
I had a good look at air cargo at Dublin Airport a few years back and the talk at Aer Lingus at the time was that it was something that they would be out of by 2008 due to their market share collapsing to levels that made turning planes around quickly a bigger objective.
In 2005 they carried 21,100 Tonnes or 525 truck loads annually on their entire network.
http://www.aerlingus.com/Corporate/Current_Report/AL_AnnualReport2005.pdf
At page 9
By 2008 thay had collapsed to 11,825 Tonnes or 296 truck loads.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0827/aerlingus.pdf
(At page 4)
At the rate of decline between 2005 – 2008; the total cargo carried will be 6,659 tonnes by 2011 which is split across 4 airports with Shannon probably having the largest share once they keep a transatlantic service. Changes in supply chain mean that most consumers of Air Freight now have a global intergrated supply chain management contract with a major supplier such as DHL, UPS or FedEx; Air-Freight really only works on long haul between hub airports with the cargo trucked from say Cork to Paris and flown from there to say Caracas. If air freight is perceived as important surely developing the Harristown fringe with seperate run-way access for the major players such as FedEx and DHL who have their own planes would be the way forward
Looking at Dublin Airport post T2 is it fair to assume that the flag carriers will be using T2 in the main and the low cost carriers the existing facilities? Terminal 2 looks very good and no doubt will be central to the next 20-30 years at Dublin Airport
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