Sir, – Transport Infrastructure Ireland informs us that implementing longer trams will "cater for the Green Line comfortably . . . to the very early 2030s" ("The problem with the Luas is everybody wants to get on", Analysis, December 13th). Why the lack of urgency in implementing longer trams to address rush-hour capacity?
Meanwhile, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the National Transport Authority are stuck tweaking their preferred Metrolink Southside route which will shut down the Green Line for a minimum of nine months and more realistically up to two years, during which there will be chaos for 45,000 daily commuters. There will be huge social and economic costs. Remember the chaos when it was closed for two days last September!
Ripping up the relatively new Green Luas line infrastructure from Charlemont (or Beechwood) to Sandyford, and replacing it with a Metro line is not a sensible use of taxpayers’ money. Communities, schools, cyclists, churches, nursing homes, hospitals, emergency services, businesses all along the Green Line will be negatively impacted, with access points closed permanently or severely restricted by the implementation of a high-speed driverless train-track segregated along its length on both sides by a 4m-high wall.
It is time to for the Government to show leadership on the Metrolink project and quickly change to a much more sensible alternative southside underground route: southeast through Rathmines, Harold’s Cross, Terenure amd Rathfarnham, which is not served by any public rail link, or east through UCD. – Yours, etc,
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RONAN O’CONNELL,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.