Trainspotting (1 Viewer)

[Scientician 0.8]

Its changing fast and once the Luas line opens I reckon it's fucked. Also DIT will open it's Grangegorman Campus in the next few years which has all the rents going up stupid amounts, like worse than the rest of the city.

It's actually cheaper for me now in Portobello over staying where I was in Stoneybatter.

Luas to Grangegorman might never happen.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

Luas to Grangegorman might never happen.

are they not building it at the moment?

 

[Scientician 0.8]

are they not building it at the moment?

Are they? I thought they were just connecting the two extant lines via the Rosie Hackett Bridge?

 

[MacDara]

Are they? I thought they were just connecting the two extant lines via the Rosie Hackett Bridge?

No, what they're working on is a new line across town - one track on O'Connell St, one on Marlborough St (the latter they've been working on) then around Parnell Square (again, lots of work there recently on Parnell Sq West) and up through Broadstone (the closest to Grangegorman, I'd say) then via the old cutting through Cabra to Broombridge. Which is a fantastic plan for an area where the train station doesn't even have Leap card validators due to vandalism.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

No, what they're working on is a new line across town - one track on O'Connell St, one on Marlborough St (the latter they've been working on) then around Parnell Square (again, lots of work there recently on Parnell Sq West) and up through Broadstone (the closest to Grangegorman, I'd say) then via the old cutting through Cabra to Broombridge. Which is a fantastic plan for an area where the train station doesn't even have Leap card validators due to vandalism.

I didn't notice the other work going on, I thought the Broombridge Luas Connection was at something like Metro North level of planning. Shows you how much attention I do be paying.

 

[MacDara]

I didn't notice the other work going on, I thought the Broombridge Luas Connection was at something like Metro North level of planning. Shows you how much attention I do be paying.

Don't worry, there'll be so many delays and holes dug that it won't be ready before 2020. That's going by the 2017 date I've seen bandied about...

 

[Scientician 0.8]

OK so you'll be able to get a Luas to Grangegorman sometime after September 2017.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Although up O'Connell around via Marlborough and back intersecting with the other two lines makes a whole lot of sense to me even if the thing never makes it to Cabra.

 

[hugh]

DIT Grangegorman has just opened all right but it's on a phased basis so there aren't that many students there right now. By 2018 or so there should be about 10,000 students there (or maybe it's 2020 ....)

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Luas Cross City⎪Luas Construction Works ⎪ Map

 

[hydromancer]

Luas Cross City⎪Luas Construction Works ⎪ Map

This looks like it will actually take the old rail line. Where the bus Depots are on constitution hill was formerly a major railway station and there is an unused railway line from there that leads to between Broombridge and Drumcondra Stations so I wonder if they plan to use that ?
Another old rail line joining around that same area is one that runs to Heuston station going under the phoenix park.

 

[hydromancer]

then via the old cutting through Cabra to Broombridge. Which is a fantastic plan for an area where the train station doesn't even have Leap card validators due to vandalism.

Yeah Broombridge is a bit of an awful station there is not much there except some waste land and what looks like some unused buildings but otherwise there are some nice parts along the canal there.

 

[MacDara]

Yeah Broombridge is a bit of an awful station there is not much there except some waste land and what looks like some unused buildings but otherwise there are some nice parts along the canal there.

Oh yeah, absolutely - before I mangled my bike last week, I cycled to/from town along the canal through there. It's a weird mix of active industrial estate and abandoned buildings, and a haven for wildlife. Never came across any ne'er-do-wells, either, unless you count the swans protecting their cygnets.

 

[MacDara]

This looks like it will actually take the old rail line. Where the bus Depots are on constitution hill was formerly a major railway station and there is an unused railway line from there that leads to between Broombridge and Drumcondra Stations so I wonder if they plan to use that ?
Another old rail line joining around that same area is one that runs to Heuston station going under the phoenix park.

That Phoenix Park line is still in use, by goods trains apparently - the tunnel comes out towards Heuston around where the Wellington Monument is, and I heard a train going through recently one Sunday morning.

I read something a while back about them doing upgrades or whatnot to make it suitable as a passenger connection between Heuston and Connolly/Docklands. There's already a platform at Heuston on that spur though I've never seen it used.

 

[ann post]

That Phoenix Park line is still in use.

almost a cult figure. as long as that exists but doesn't exist, dublin's edge is safe.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

My mate used to play in the Phoenix Park tunnel when he was a kid.

Broom Bridge has a plaque.

The text on the plaque reads:

Here as he walked by
on the 16th of October 1843
Sir William Rowan Hamilton
in a flash of genius discovered
the fundamental formula for
quaternion multiplication
i² = j² = k² = ijk = −1
& cut it on a stone of this bridge.

 

[pete]

My mate used to play in the Phoenix Park tunnel when he was a kid.

i preferred their earlier stuff

 

[rettucs]

That Phoenix Park line is still in use, by goods trains apparently - the tunnel comes out towards Heuston around where the Wellington Monument is, and I heard a train going through recently one Sunday morning.

I read something a while back about them doing upgrades or whatnot to make it suitable as a passenger connection between Heuston and Connolly/Docklands. There's already a platform at Heuston on that spur though I've never seen it used.

I thought I read somewhere that theres some problem with the width of the track and that your normal commuter train wouldn't fit on them.

 

[sleepy]

Yeah Broombridge is a bit of an awful station there is not much there except some waste land and what looks like some unused buildings but otherwise there are some nice parts along the canal there.

It's awful but someone's done some nice footballer graffiti on some of the the railings around the station

 

[MacDara]

I thought I read somewhere that theres some problem with the width of the track and that your normal commuter train wouldn't fit on them.

Yeah I remember reading the same thing, but the track looks exactly the same gauge (and even if it means they can't run side by side, well it's a short tunnel, run 'em through one at a time).

It's more likely a safety issue with access to the tunnel or something like that. But I also read that they used to run special services to Croke Park from Heuston that way; maybe that's bullshit.