It’s done, the Cabinet set the official start of the construction of a new tram line (LUAS) in the Irish capital.
This will change greatly the circulation in Dublin, more precisely the North of Dublin.
On Tuesday, November 27th, the Irish Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar (the curious name is due to the father of Indian origin) has announced that May 2013 will be the official start of the pre-construction of the new LUAS line, called “BXD” which will connect the already in existing Red and Green lines and will go farther to the North of Dublin.
Actual construction will begin in 2015 and the work is expected to be completed in 2017.
The construction work will create 800 temporary jobs and 60 permanent once the new line is completed.
The budget of 370 million € was approved last summer.
The new line will be 5.6 km long and will connect the terminal north of the Green Line (St. Stephen’d Green) with Broombridge train station. It will cross the River Liffey and on O’Connell Street it will then connect with the red line near the General Post Office, in the shadow of the Spire.
There will be 11 new stations, with a journey time of 24 minutes between the two terminals of the new line.
Among the stops, there will be the Trinity College and the future Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) campus at Grangegorman, which is expected to host more than 20,000 students.
The increase in the annual number of travelers should be around 8 million between commuters and tourists, thus reaching about 37 million LUAS users each year (25% more than the current).
Minister Varadkar, who called the project “the first integrated system of dedicated rail commuters in Dublin” he also stated that “the two LUAS lines should have been connected years ago” and that “it is a privilege to finish the work”.
The map of the project:
Luca Cattaneo – Alexis Dupuy
