A journey into the future of city transport
Liam Collins takes a ride through Dublin as the new Luas cross-city line is officially opened
BEFORE the first passenger-carrying tram glided from the GPO to Broombridge yesterday, the Taoiseach set guests at the official opening a riddle: “How many Ministers for Transport does it take to extend the Luas?”
Three is the answer. He got the project off the ground, Pascal Donohoe put it into action, and Shane Ross accepted the accolade of finishing the project.
“When I heard that it wouldn’t be finished until 2017 I was dejected” added Leo, who was Minister for Transport in 2013 when the project first got the green light. “I thought, ‘I could be anywhere then’ and I am here.”
What he described as “the missing link, a huge undertaking into uncharted territory” finally opened up to the people at 2pm after the dignitaries had been decanted back in Marlborough Street and a few of us continued on up to Stephen’s Green, where the tram, driven by Garreth Irvine, resumed normal service out to Sandyford and beyond.
Public transport presents “all sorts of possibilities.” The Taoiseach even put forward such future scenarios as Metro North, trams to the proposed new town of Poolbeg and Finglas and Lucan, and eventually the electrification of the main railway line north from Dublin that could see the Dart running to Belfast.
How many Ministers for Transport such propositions would take he didn’t say, but he read out some sceptical headline about the very viability of the original Luas lines, adding “the only way to convince people is to go out and do it.”
“Look at what has been achieved in five years when we didn’t have money — and imagine what can be done when we have the money,” he said, before encouraging people to make “make all sorts of new journeys that weren’t possible in the past.”
He also promoted the benefits of the new public transport system which will give people “more time to watch television, play with the kids and spent a little more time in bed”, although as the Taoiseach who wants to look after the people who get out of bed in the morning this sounded slightly contradictory.
The cross-city line will unite the north and south sides of the city, said Minister for Transport Shane Ross, who spoke lyrically of the “galleons of the street” as the trams were known when first introduced to Dublin, which was a model of good public transport at the turn of the 20th century.
Electrified in 1901, the last city tram ran in 1944, leaving a solitary line running on the scenic route from Sutton to the Hill of Howth which was closed in May, 1959 – and as a sixyear-old I travelled on one of those last journeys.
For Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure Pascal Donohoe, the new Cross City Luas introduces public transport to “the beating heart of the city”, the northside of which also happens to be his constituency.
“I want to extend a warm invitation to everybody from the southside to come over to the northside of Dublin — everyone will get a warm welcome, the people of Stepaside and everywhere else”, he said.
Waxing lyrical, he added the “little ringing bell” of the Luas trams “is what regeneration and growth sounds like.”
With so much talk of reuniting the city, someone behind me remarked on the omission of a “hashtag no border” tweet from Leo!
We then poured out of the restored courtyard of the GPO and onto the tram, watched by crowds behind makeshift barriers in O’Connell Street. The wall surrounding the once magnificent Broadstone railway station contains blocks of stone from the old Liffey quay walls that were discovered in a depot somewhere.
The view from the tram gives a different perception of the city, particularly the northside, where you get views of the ruined grandeur of part of Grangegorman and the dilapidation of parts of what was once the industrial heart of Dublin.
Back in the city centre, Pascal Donohoe believes Marlborough Street is already benefiting from the line, and then it’s back to the southside, crossing the Liffey and squeezing through a gap and into College Green.
Although closed to all but public transport, the tram vies for road space with buses, taxis, the odd rogue car, bicycles and pedestrians. It has been equipped with a device that alerts the traffic lights to its arrival but, looking at the other road-users swerving here and there along the tram lines, there may be interesting times ahead before the city gets to grip with these momentous changes.
We travel up Dawson Street which, according to the engineers involved in building the line, were the most “challenging” and expensive parts of the construction.
The face of Dublin has changed forever with the opening of Luas Cross City, a new set of stereotypes about who uses the line will join the folklore of the Red and Green lines and Shane Ross is confident that Dubliners will find some sort of “moniker” for the tram.
Certainly the city traders will be breathing a sigh of relief that the long drawnout era of dug-up streets and the persistent sound of the jack-hammer has come to an end. Others will be relieved if it delivers on reducing car journeys into the city by millions. Now, who’s for the Dart to Belfast?
‘The tram’s little ringing bell is what regeneration sounds like’