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June 05, 2005

The One About The LUAS . . .

Friday 2nd July - Newbridge Train Station

As I waited for the 8.40am train to arrive, a strange thing happened. The man beside me started to smoke. I wasn’t really quite sure what to do. Nobody else seemed to be bothered by it or perhaps that’s what we were all thinking and hence didn’t act on this blatant disregard for the law and more importantly a disregard for the health of this man’s fellow commuters. A few moments later a young lady walked down the platform and stood beside myself and the man smoking us all to slow deaths. In a bewildering twist of events she started smoking as well! What’s happening? Was the smoking ban merely a bad dream? Did I hallucinate so badly that my subconscious concocted a mirage of smoking ban signs and adverts? Does Michael Martin even exist?

Later that morning, after the train and bus journey, I was walking through Grafton St. making my way to the LUAS station at St. Stephen’s Green. Rather than brave the crowds at the launch of the LUAS, the latest addition to the bevy of public transport currently crawling across Dublin, I decided to let the excitement die down a little and wait a day or two before testing the ‘tram in a jam’. When I got to the top of Grafton St. I could see the last few people hoping onto one of the LUAS trams. I ran as fast as I could up to the carriage only to be told that the tram was full. Rats. The next one would be arriving in around 5 minutes I was told. It was only a minute or so when I turned my head around only to be bowled over by a queue the length of China. LUAS ‘helpers’ dressed in purple LUAS jackets and baseball caps were on hand to answer any questions on the new service. While we waited for the next tram, they gave out leaflets and lightly reminded us to bring money next time. Just as it started to pour out of the heavens, our LUAS tram appeared in the distance, all shiny and new. The massive queue swarmed forth, invading each and every carriage. Yours truly sat at the very front.

Inside the LUAS is quite comfortable. Its seats are lined with a cover not entirely different to that of the snazzy blue design on Dublin bus seats. There are plenty of yellow bars for standing commuters to hold on to and it can accommodate 276 commuters standing, 80 sitting and plenty of space for commuters using wheelchairs. The driver began ringing the tram bell and we were off! That was immediately something I loved. The fact that it’s been fifty odd years since Dublin last had trams and yet the latest ones are still using a bell instead of a horn. Charming.

The old lady sitting beside me was very excited at being on the LUAS, as we all were. “When I was talking to my neighbour on the phone and I told her I was trying out the LUAS in a few minutes she said why didn’t ya tell me, sure I would have gone with ya!” Such is the stir that LUAS is causing. Crammed to the brim of giddy adults who should know better, we sailed through Harcourt St. and around the Harcourt Building where I often passed by on the bus on my way to Rathmines. Next the LUAS slowly began climbing a man-made hill like a roller coaster before the sudden drop. Of course there was no sudden drop with the LUAS. Instead we cruised along the main LUAS line out to Sandymount. We were at the height of the rooftops whilst travelling through Raneleigh offering spectacular views of the Dublin Mountains. Onward, stopping briefly at each mini-station in Windy Arbour, Beech wood, Cowper and over the odd Dundrum Bridge. It was here I hoped off in order to inspect the little station. It boasted a handy touch-screen ticket machine and another LUAS purple clad ‘helper’. She explained to me that the timetable screens at every station operated in ‘real-time’ meaning that when the sign said ‘Next tram in 3 minutes’, a tram would, without fail, be there in three minutes time. And it was. The abundance of trams means speedier arrivals and departures at each little station which is a novelty commuters won’t be used to with the current standard of Irish Rail and Dublin Buses time keeping.

I hoped back onto the next tram that arrived heading back into the city. Again it was full of people testing out the LUAS for themselves. Another feature of the new transport is that when approaching each station an automated voice tells you what station you’re approaching in English and Irish. As we left the main LUAS line and joined the regular traffic flow back on Harcourt St. everyone was watching with baited breath to see if we’re going to scrape a car that we seemed to be dangerously close too. The previous day, a car had run into the LUAS in a minor accident in the same spot. We passed by without incident.

Back in St. Stephen’s Green another enormous queue had formed. Everyone left the LUAS quite impressed at its design, speed and pure shininess’. I know I certainly did. Of course we’ll have to give it another few weeks and wait until all LUAS lines have opened but with a handy stop right outside Heuston Station, the LUAS is going to ease commuters lives considerably. At that moment I receive a text from my amigo Leo. It reads, “Before Luas, the last tram seen in Dublin was in 1949. The Government spent millions turning the clock back 50 years. But the Catholic Church has been doing that for years. For free!” Hmph! Atheists, eh? What are they like? And as for the trams being christened the ‘Daniel Day LUAS’ or the ‘Jerry Lee LUAS’, I say nonsense! I’m going to campaign to have it called the ‘LUAS Carroll’.

Trains, Buses & Automobiles by Liam Geraghty appears every week in the Kildare Nationalist (page 6)

Posted by LiamG at June 5, 2005 09:30 PM