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That W sign over the door case is truely shocking and the bloke on the right looks like he is urinating; the WAX letters are clearly a trip hazard on a public footpath.
Someone should complain….
@ac1976 wrote:
Luas link up plans being finalised
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0622/luas.htmlRailway Order to be published 30th June and the RPA wish to proceed in advance of Metro North, cost 170 Million
Let’s hope the get the go-ahead…
This is a very prudent decision as it delivers an affordable link up of the existing and expanding Luas network; I would hope that in a large section of the application that the RPA would concentrate on the flexibility of Luas and the unique advantage it has over underground systems to be extended incrementally and regularly. A very positive move would be to grant the commercially minded Aircoach (& Dublin Bus if they were interested) an exemption from paying tolls on the Dublin Port Tunnel; no doubt a token DHL walker on each service could provide the freight to get around the toll contract.
2016 is still possible but for how long and what self inflicted conditions nobody knows…
For the Luas link up?
There is certainly an element of over specification across the wider roads programme but on this if the cost was €180m to the exchequer and if the average cost per kilometer on Dublin – Cork was €11m per kilometer implying a like for like cost of €99m based on a 9 kms route then I don’t see a €180m cost as being totally out of the ballpark. Clearly the private sector is betting on the 27,000 cars per day estimated as a base figure as increasing over time to give them a return; as they are the majority investors I think the figures on this are a pass at worst.
What scares me is the €1bn Tuam Motorway which has gone to the EIB for funding; population of Tuam of 2,997 people or an investment of €333,333 per member of the population. Better sending the good burghers of Tuam to retire on the Algarve on Greek style pensions.
The BA situation is clever but is predicated on two factors; firstly the runway at City is too short for a plane to take off with a trans-atlantic fuel load and secondly the obvious pre-clearance and disembarkation into a domestic terminal in NY.
For infrastructure with an estimated cost (construction and on-going operations and maintenance) of €660m, excluding land/planning/ preparatory design costs, the State will pay €180m (excluding land/preparatory costs) throughout the 4 year construction period along with a further €60m during the operational period. The State will recoup monies by means of revenue share, rates and taxes.
If the state got 9kms of motorway standard route including a tunnel for €180m then it does put a very different complexion on the project to that put forward by Tim O’Brien and that scenario would assume that all cost over-runs were taken on by the syndicate vs the govt then it would represent value for money plus an opportunity for the syndicate to make a return on the basis of 27,000 cars per day as claimed in the RTE article below
40,00 walk through Limerick Tunnel
Saturday, 19 June 2010 23:03
An estimated 40,000 people walked under the River Shannon through the new Limerick Tunnel which opened to the public for an open day today.It was the last chance for the public to walk the tunnel before it officially opens at the end of July.
The Limerick Tunnel took four years to construct at a capital cost of €660m, and is one of the biggest infrastructural projects ever in the Mid-West region – rivalled only by the construction of the hydroelectric power station at Ardnacrusha during the early 1930s.
It is due to open at the end of July, well ahead of its scheduled opening date of 17 September.
The tunnel will provide a fourth crossing of the river Shannon in Limerick, and will take an estimated 27,000 cars out of the city centre.
The tunnel will improve access times for commuters to the city, as well as access to Shannon Airport, Galway, Cork, Kerry and Dublin.
The open day was from 10am to 7pm, but thousands of people had already gathered from 9am to be among the first group through the tunnel.
Direct Route, the company which built the tunnel, also provided food and canteen facilities at the end of the tunnel, and park and ride facilities to help in traffic management.
They were hoping to raise over €100,000 for charities through the sale of a special commemorative brochure.
I could be wrong but it seems like the tunnel cost €500m and that once tolls are subtracted from operational and planned maintenance costs that it will lose €310m operationally over a 35 year life cycle. I’d shorten the life cycle to 20 years as you can never predict where things will be on a longer timeframe but you must question the merit in building a project that loses so much money for such a long period of time. No point in crying over spilled milk but it should be a lesson at National level about the burden unviable projects place on the public purse. Particular reference to the Tuam Motorway…..
I agree that there is the approach of the German system in the image but would say that comparisons to Berlin are completely flawed given both the scale and density of that City; in comparison Frankfurt is probably a better. When you compare the transport system including buses and trams for Frankfurt you get a much better result from a planning versus tourist point of view.
I also don’t think that expecting people to take a five minute walk to Mount St Bridge from Merrion Sq is a big ask; what cannot be underestimated is the change in psychology that a change to a zonal fare matrix based on weekly, monthly, annual tickets brings to usage. When you don’t have to pay three times it does feel like you are making a single journey albeit with interchange.
I disagree; the strategy in London’s West End involves traffic calming on Oxford St and Regent Street; what I would say is that once the move to a zonal fare matrix predicated on majority weekly/monthly zone passes takes place then journeys will involve all modes. e.g. Bus from Kinsealy to Malahide, Dart to Stephens Green, Luas to College Green. If a new Luas line extended from College Green to Christchurch it would in combination with lines from Parnell Sq to St Green and the Point to Heuston have the vast majority of the 6 storey city centre within a 5 minute walk of a Luas line.
What a report like this does is in one document combine best practice from a number of cities where the bus is the dominant mode and apply it (a little too generously for me) to all of Dublin; if the system were redesigned it would give the impetus to convert many of the QBCs to real priority routes.
I am amazed this is the first time I’ve seen the port tunnel on a public transport map; it really is stating the bleedin……
One very notable finding was that the smallest existing usage of any mode was ‘car driven by somebody else’
I think that there will be some very empirical data in this project with particular reference to the radial routes; if this project could acheive one thing it must be an acceptance at Govt level that different modes are appropriate to different existing and planned development densities.
I would however have reservations that the bus is so important as to warrant underground tunnels at locations such as Christchurch and St Green. That said you would strongly hope that when the new transport authority are framing the new system starting with the existing building blocks of
1. Existing Dart
2. Existing Commuter Rail
3. Existing Luas
4. Existing QBC
5. Planned completion of original Luas network
6. Planned InterconnectorThat they will call these guys in as they have clearly put a lot of thought into areas of lower housing density and applied a transport mode that is proven to work under the right management regime in other locations.
High quality original thinking is clearly alive and well in the current post grad crop….. 😀
I’m with Tayto on this; unless there are express conditions it would be a very difficult route to enforce any simple planning use class differential that may exist. Your route would probably involve a planning consultant writing a number of letters to the council; they’d sit on them or try to fob you off. You’d then have a choice on whether to hire a legal team and the planning authority ho you wouls seek specific performance from would in the interests of ‘gathering further information’ kick it to adjournment after adjournment.
I can think of far more productive investments for most restaurants mostly in the area of targetted specials aimed outside your patch to bring trade into the area.
london (sharecast) – Irish Budget Airline Aer Lingus Is Suspending Flights From Shannon To New York And Boston For 11 Weeks At The Start Of 2011 As Both Routes Tend To Make Big Losses During The Winter.
Planes, Which Fly To Each Of The Us Cities Four Times A Week, Will Be Grounded Between 5 January And 27 March Next Year.
The Carrier Says Both Routes Have Incurred Significant Losses During The Winter Months In 14 Of The Past 15 Years, Costing The Company A Total Of €163m Since 1995, An Average €11m A Year.
“in Order To Maintain The Viability Of Our Shannon Transatlantic Operations Throughout The Remainder The Year, The 3 Month Suspension Of These Routes When Seasonal Demand Is At Its Lowest Is Crucial,†Said Ceo Christoph Mueller.
Fyi
The choice of parking as opposed to a bus lane in the last image seems poor given the urban scale, lack of commuter rail and proximity to the retail core; too many councillor representations gunthering the process?
With its proximity to Croker I’m gobsmacked that a leisure use of the existing was never the favoured option if not the only viable option. If this were used as a mezz level Gym and a ground floor bar it would be an utter goldmine and some element of planning gain could be realised by giving use of a section of the bar for day time community events to get the very vocal local residents on side.
Thanks for links
A pity The Irish Pub Company went belly up; this material could really have created some great pub interiors; a refit of the former Dublin Working mans club perhaps?
@EIA340600 wrote:
A new PDF about the project.
http://www.irishrail.ie/projects/pdf/dartunderground/Missing%20Link%2018pp_11.pdf
Nothing new really, except for some pretty pictures of a shiny heuston station.
There is a little more detail on the rationale of moving the tunnel slightly further out to Inchicore but other than that there is little new detail. When a case for support is so clear cut do you need to keep reinventing the wheel?
RTE Morning Ireland Feature on Awards
What is required is someone with a detailed knowledge of competition, national competitiveness and a lot of attitude. Transport engineers are excellent at design and technical solutions but I think it is fair to say the problem is a lot more complex than is capable of being resolved by technical solutions alone.
I would say that in Germany and France it is very common for business leaders to have attended engineering school; however there have been no shortage of technical proposals in recent years what has been missing are two things.
1. An Iron fist to simply assert a vision
2. An intergrated network of competing modes and operators; if this is to be acheived the competition will be for fare splits from an agreed zonal fare matrix and an expert in the area of competition would be best placed to see this through in an independent and objective manner.John Fingleton would be perfect to run a national transport authority; would you say no to this man?
