Monday, September 27, 2010

Dublin Docklands - New Tram Service Starts On Wednesday

The system operates on a 750 V DC overhead power supply. The international standard rail gauge of 1435 mm (4 ft 8½in) is used, rather than the Irish 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in).

The silver Citadis trams, manufactured in La Rochelle by French multi-national Alstom, reach a top speed of 70 km/h on off-street sections, but travel at a slower speed on-street where conflicts with other vehicles or pedestrians can occur. The 26 initial Red Line '3000' class trams were 30 m long Citadis 301 configurations with a capacity of 256. The 14 Green Line '4000 class' trams, each 40 m Citadis 401 configurations, have a capacity of 358 including two wheelchairs.[10] Starting in 2007, all the Red line trams were upgraded to 40 m by inserting two more articulated sections, with the last one converted by June 2008. Both configurations of tramcars are fully compatible with both the Red and the Green Lines.

In other aspects, the two lines are identical except that the interaxis width between the tracks on the Green Line is slightly wider than on the Red Line. Note that this does not relate to the track gauge of 1435 mm, which is identical on both lines. This will allow wider metro trains be run on the same tracks if a proposed upgrade to full metro service is implemented. This is possible because the route uses an old railway line and as such has few interactions with vehicular or pedestrian traffic. The Red Line was constructed largely on or beside public roads and is not suited to wider and faster metro trains. The Railway Procurement Agency has stated (November 2006) that "We still envisage conversion of almost all Luas lines to light metro standard in the long-term."

The main engineering structures on the Green Line at present are Milltown Viaduct, also known as The Nine Arches, a large stone viaduct dating from 1854, and the William Dargan Bridge, a large new cable-stayed suspension bridge at Taney Cross, near Dundrum town centre.

The first of the new 43 m trams arrived at the Sandyford depot on 23 February 2009. They are known as the '5000 class'. The Green Line trams were stored at the new sidings at Sandyford. 26 trams were ordered for both the Red and Green Lines, and all came into service in June 2009.

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