Luas

The tram runs Dublin since 2004 again in the Irish capital. It is called with the Irish word luas what speed means. Since the name of the web Luas / lu ː əs / is almost like the English name Lewis / lu ː ɪs / pronounced the web in Dublin now has the nickname Jerry Lee, in reference to the U.S. musician Jerry Lee Lewis. It is operated by the railway company Veolia Transport on behalf of the State Railway Procurement Agency ( RPA). It is the successor of a former tram network, which until 1959 was from 1872 into operation.

The network consists of two routes: a red line ( "Red Line") and a green line ( "Green Line") which are to be added to 2019 and connected by a connection through the historic downtown. Luas has been designed as a light rail light rail system that runs over existing roads within the city, but away travels on its own rail body part elevated or low-lying former railway lines again uses.

History

The first tram

Luas is the second tram system in the city. The first train was taken as a horse tram with 1600 mm track gauge into operation in 1872. It was in 1881 replaced by a steam-powered. 1896 all tracks have been combined in the City of Dublin in the United trams and converted to electrical operation in 1901. 1949, set in Dublin even the last tram line in the suburbs she held until the year 1959.

The new tram

The tram service was opened on 30 June 2004. The first 9 km long green line was taken with 13 stops between St. Stephen 's Green and Sandyford in operation. On 28 September 2004, the 14 km long red line followed between Connolly and Tallaght with 23 stops. The green line runs largely on the route of a disused suburban railway and was built so that it can be converted, if required at a reasonable cost in a subway line. The two lines are not connected to each other and therefore each have their own depot. The shortest distance between two lines can go on foot in 15 minutes.

On 8 December 2009, the first extension of the red line was put into operation. It runs from Busáras about the breakpoints George 's Dock, Mayor Square, Spencer Dock the last stop The Point. The track opens up the financial district in the Docklands and the event hall " The O2 ". The construction work for the expansion began in June 2007. Approximately 2 /3 of the trains run directly from Tallaght to The Point and thus bypass the existing terminus Connoly.

The two routes differ only to the extent that, on the green line, a larger gauge is chosen in order to allow later conversion into a U -Bahn or S-Bahn.

The construction works for the extension of the Green Line from Sandyford according to Bride's Glen ( Luas Cherrywood) began on 26 February 2007, the 11 km long stretch with nine stations was taken in October 2010.

Recently there was a new branch of the red line of Belgard after Saggart ( Luas Citywest ) under construction. Construction of Luas Citywest began on 9 February 2009 and the opening took place on 2 July 2011.

Planning

In June 2010, plans were submitted for further route expansion, including a connection between red and green line. The stations of the extended green line: Stephens Green - Dawson Street - Westmoreland Street - O'Connell Street / Abbey Street (transfer to the red line ) - Marlborough Street and Hawkins Street ( leadership of the route by different ( one-way ) roads) - College Street. This extension was in earlier plans not included, instead, parts of the planning route BX ( " Luas City Centre " ) and planning distance D ( " Luas Broombridge " ) connected to the green line - this, in a further extension then to Broombridge lead (planning route BXD ). The extension is to be initially operated with 40 m long tracks, the track is planned for operation with 53 m long tracks. Construction should begin in 2010, with completion has been specified 2012. On November 10, 2011, several Streckenbauten were as austerity measures the government stopped or moved - the construction of the extension of the Green Line by Boom Bridge was thereby confirmed that construction work will begin, however, until 2015 and last until 2019.

As part of expansion began in April 2012 with the construction of a bridge, the Marlborough Street and Hawkins Street connects (parallel to O'Connell Bridge downstream ). This is also the expansion of the bus network and improvement of urban roads. On August 3, 2012, the budget for the overall expansion was released to Broombridge - at the proposed scheduling options, it was decided that the light rail is also performed in the historic center with upper management, maintenance Dawson Street is omitted, but the maintenance Grangegorman is confirmed. The new line is scheduled to open in 2017. The construction of the "Cross -City Line" are still 2013 [ deprecated] start, the first orders for the construction of the 5.6 km long stretch have already been awarded by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar, the overall project currently has a circumference of 370 million euros.

Rolling stock

The fleet initially consisted of 40 low-floor trams of type Alstom Citadis 301, 30 feet long for the red line, and Citadis 401, 40 feet long for the green line. The vehicles were built in La Rochelle, France. The vehicles run on standard gauge of 1435 mm instead of the usual Irish broad gauge of 1600 mm and are supplied with 750 volts DC.

It began in 2007 with the conversion of the three-part Citadis 301 of the red line in five-part Citadis 401, the last train was rebuilt in June 2008. These may be used, if necessary, to the green line. In addition, another 26 Citadis was ordered 402 43 m long strips can be used on both routes.

Ridership

The passenger numbers are around 25 million trips per year ( 50 million by 2006, 28.4 million in 2007, 27.4 million in 2008 ). The operation does not require subsidies - instead of the expected 2.5 million euro deficit to a surplus of just under 0.7 million euros has already been achieved in 2004, which rose to just under 1.0 million euros by 2007.

Lines

The two lines have a different clock. While the red line through a cycle of 10 minutes there, has the Green Line 5 - to 15 -minute cycles -, 7,5 -, 10. The travel time on the green line is at 22 stations 40 minutes. On the red line, 32 stations are approached; Here, the journey time is 53 minutes.