Greens query Cherrywood extension

Major problems accommodating passengers on the Luas line to Sandyford in Dublin will be exacerbated by opening an extension to Cherrywood, near Cabinteely, it was predicted yesterday.

Developers of the Luas system, the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA), yesterday lodged a formal application for a railway order to extend the line another 7½kms, almost doubling the existing length of the Green line.

The line is to be developed over 3½ years, with an additional year allocated for the planning process. The first passengers are scheduled to use the route by 2010.

The timetable represents some slippage on the two years which the RPA initially said would pass before work would start on completing the line to Sandyford.

However, while the RPA said yesterday that an additional eight million passengers a year would be accommodated on Luas, Green Party transport spokesman Eamon Ryan said hundreds of passengers were currently unable to board the trams in the mornings as they were already full when they arrived. Mr Ryan queried how such a large extension to the system could work "when passengers as far out as Windy Arbour are currently unable to board because of overcrowding. Then there is the issue of the 5,000 or so extra apartments being built at Cherrywood".

Mr Ryan said that only extending the proposed Dublin metro to the south suburbs would tackle the problem.

"Rather than stopping [ the proposed metro] at St Stephen's Green, the tunnelling machine could easily continue for another two kilometres to emerge south of the existing Beechwood Luas station on the old Harcourt Street line.

"From there metro trains would have a clear run to Sandyford and onwards to Cherrywood along the extension that is being suggested.

"The cost of upgrading the line would be minimal in comparison to the benefits of having a direct link between the south and north sides of the city."

A spokesman for the RPA said last night that increasing the frequency of the trams would be one option. He added that the RPA had some time as yet to look at the problem.

The route from Sandyford to Cherrywood, subject to amendment by public inquiry or a decision by the Minister for Transport, involves crossing the Leopardstown Road roundabout; on a southwesterly trajectory through the Central Park business campus; across the M50 to a stop at Glencairn; turning into Ballyogan Road and travelling southeast before again crossing the M50; from there it travels through Carrickmines to Laughanstown, close to Loughlinstown and on to Cherrywood.

The extension is set to cost €300 million, about half of which is to be provided by private finance in levies from property developers whose land is located within a one kilometre radius of the track.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has been imposing and collecting development levies along the route for some years.