Transport needs "sidelined" in LUAS debate

DUBLIN will have traffic congestion with or without a light rail system, according to the chairman of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce transport committee.

The chairman, the Telecom Eireann chief executive, Mr Alfie Kane, said yesterday the debate over the LUAS rail system had sidelined other essential transport needs.

These included a high speed rail link to the airport, improving traffic on the southern coast road and the integration of existing rail, DART and bus services.

"I have never been in any city that does not have or is not planning to have a rail link to its airport," he said, adding that this light rail line could be financed by private investment with a large input from Dublin Airport.

The committee's report, A Transport System for Dublin, criticises a lack of integration in the 1994 Dublin Transport Initiative (DTI). However, Mr Kane said the committee believed the DTI proposals - were basically sound. The plan just needed "a bit more and a bit faster". Mr Kane said the majority of members had serious concerns about LUAS, but he refused to come down "for or against" the project.

He said the DTI vision of a traffic free city centre was a viable one, and could be achieved by extending the "Grafton Street" model of pedestrianisation to a one mile radius.

The report argues against comparing the proposed LUAS with other European cities' systems. The Strasbourg system, for example, operated in much wider streets, with a portion running underground. It also had secure and cheap "park and ride" facilities.

Mr Kane said the committee was also proposing one central railway station for Dublin, possibly based at the Connolly Station site. Manchester, with a population more than twice that of Dublin, had a single railway station.

He said 30 per cent of traffic through the city centre was "transit traffic" or cars and trucks only entering the centre to get across the city. These drivers would probably not use city based public transport.

The completion of a ring road around Dublin appeared to have been postponed indefinitely, the report said, and there was no provision for integrating an LRT system with the DART.

The report also questions the figures on the LUAS capacity. Published figures suggested a maximum of 2,400 people an hour in each direction, while the anticipated number of travellers was forecast at 4,000 people an hour by 2005. From these figures the catchment area would provide more than twice as many people as the system could cope with at peak times.

Only 2,000 to 2,500 cars might be taken off the road of the 28,000 cars that entered the city between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. by the LUAS. The report also expressed concern about the level of funding allocated to the LUAS and the fact that no funding was included for car parking at LUAS stops.

Mr Kane said there was no overwhelming argument that LUAS would not work. And there was no real evidence that the underground option would be viable. He said there was a need for rational and informed debate and for the two sides to "stop throwing bricks at each other."