PUBLIC TRANSPORT

All Photographs Supplied By William Murphy

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CHARLEMONT LUAS TRAM STOP AND BRIDGE ACROSS THE GRAND CANAL AND NEARBY

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11 FEBRUARY 2024

At the tram stop there is a memorial plaque indicating that the bridge across the canal was dedicated to Professor Simon H Perry.

Professor Simon Herbert Perry, who died on March 15th aged 61, was professor of civil engineering, head of the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin (TCD). He was also dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Systems Sciences at TCD from 1990-1996.

One of his particular interests was his crusade for light rail transit (LRT) in Dublin.

Charlemont is a stop on the Luas light-rail tram system in Dublin, Ireland. It opened in 2004 as a stop on the Green Line from St Stephen’s Green to Sandyford. It provides access to the Portobello area.

The platforms of Charlemont are located on a steel and concrete beam bridge which crosses the Grand Canal. The waiting shelters are located directly above the canal itself. The advantage of this layout is that the stop can be accessed from either side of the canal: on the south side, a staircase and lift lead from the Grand Parade to the northbound platform. On the north side, staircases lead from each of the platforms to Charlemont Place, but this end does not have step free access. Since the Luas does not have ticket barriers, the bridge can also be used by pedestrians to cross the canal. The bridge has been dedicated to Professor Simon H. Perry, a civil engineer who lead the campaign for a light railway in Dublin. The arrangement of a station on a bridge over water has since been implemented on a much larger scale at London Blackfriars station.

To the south of Charlemont, trams continue south on a viaduct built for the Harcourt Street railway line which ran along this alignment from 1854 to 1958. To the north, trams cross Charlemont Place and descend a ramp, continuing through the city centre on the streets. Trams generally run every 5–10 minutes. Northbound trams terminate at Parnell or continue to Broombridge. Southbound trams terminate at Sandyford or continue to Brides Glen.

AS THE BUS AND TRAM SERVICES WERE SUSPENDED IN THE CITY CENTRE

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I WENT TO CONNOLLY STATION AND TRAVELLED BY DART

My plans on Thursday and today were disrupted so I decided that I would travel to Bray by train but I decided to get off at Sandymount Station and explore the immediate area.

When I arrived at the station it was full of vert confused travellers and tourists who had arrived in the city centre only to discover that many bus and all tram services within the city centre area had been suspended … much to the delight of local taxi drivers.

Connolly station or Dublin Connolly is one of the busiest railway stations in Dublin and Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. On the North side of the River Liffey, it provides InterCity, Enterprise and commuter services to the north, north-west, south-east and south-west. The north–south Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Luas red line light rail services also pass through the station. The station offices are the headquarters of Irish Rail, Iarnród Éireann. Opened in 1844 as Dublin Station, the ornate facade has a distinctive Italianate tower at its centre.

TRAM CROSSING PHIBSBORO ROAD

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AT BROADSTONE – CONSTITUTION HILL

Broadstone is one of the three neighbourhoods that make up present-day Phibsboro in Dublin, Ireland. The most southerly of these, it begins just two kilometres north of Father Mathew Bridge at Ormond Quay. The area is triangular, bounded by Phibsborough Road and Constitution Hill to the West, North Circular Road to the north, and Dorset Street and Bolton Street to the south-east. The postal district for the area is Dublin 7.

Built in 1968, Constitution Hill Flats consists of three five-storey blocks, containing 89 homes in total. The site is located along Constitution Hill, with the recently opened Broadstone Plaza to the north, Catherine Lane North at the southern end, and a Dublin Bus Depot to the west with the Grangegorman TU Dublin campus beyond. The complex also sits in a setting flanked by historic buildings: the Kings Inns and Broadstone Station.

SANDYMOUNT LUAS TRAM STOP

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25 SEPTEMBER 2023

When I was young I had a few friends who lived in Sandyford which was in the country rather than the city. It was often the case that they could not come to school because of snow.

Sandyford is a suburb of Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland.

Sandyford Business District makes up much of the suburb and encompasses 4 business parks: Sandyford Business Park, Stillorgan Business Park, Central Park and South County Business Park. Some of the multinational companies based in the area include Google, Facebook, Microsoft and AIB.

The Luas Green Line was built through the Business District and the Kilmacud, Stillorgan, Sandyford and Central Park stops serve the area, the middle two lying along the eastern edge of the original district. All four of these stops are in the Sandyford Business District. Sandyford was the Green Line terminus until the extension to Cherrywood opened in October 2010. The depot for the Green Line is located on the eastern edge of the Business District.

Sandyford House, a pub in the centre of the village, has been an inn and coach house since the 1690s. For 200 years it was a stopping place for travellers en route to Enniskerry. From 1803 onwards, the Chatham Street to Enniskerry mail coach (a two-hour journey) stopped and deposited the region’s mail at the inn, which acted as the local post office.

Sandyford Business District spans one of the biggest business parks in Ireland, consisting of over 1,000 companies employing approximately 26,000 people. It was officially opened in June 1967 on a site of 120 acres and for 50 years was known as the “Sandyford Industrial Estate”; 85 acres allocated to light industry and the rest to offices.

The area includes several separate business parks and sites, including Sandyford Business Park, Stillorgan Business Park, Central Park, and South County Business Park.

A proposal to establish a Sandyford Business District area, to include the core Sandyford Business Park as well as the other areas, resulted in the establishment of the Sandyford Business Improvement District Company (SBID) in January 2017. The area has capacity for 17,500 more employees, 350,000 sq m of commercial floor space and 1,000 residential units.

Companies in the business district include American Airlines, Barclaycard, Canon, Microsoft, Novell, and Vodafone Ireland. The Irish Management Institute also has its headquarters in northern Sandyford. The Irish Mint, a division of the Central Bank of Ireland, is located in Sandyford, west of the M50 and north of the village.

I WANTED TO PHOTOGRAPH THE CHURCH AT TULLY

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BUT WAS SURPRISED TO DISCOVER A NEW TOWN

Today I got a tram to Laughanstown and on my arrival discovered a new complex of not fully completed roads and much to my surprise there many people waiting at the stop for the tram back to the city centre. Also, I was disappointed when I realised that the DP3 Quattro was not the most suitable camera and it did not have GPS so I have no option but to visit again within the next few days.

Laughanstown is a stop on the Luas light-rail tram system in Dún Laoghaire – Rathdown, south of Dublin, Ireland. It opened in 2010 as a stop on the extension of the Green Line south from Sandyford to Brides Glen. The stop provides access to the nearby suburb of Cabinteely.

The stop was intended to serve a new suburb being developed during the Celtic Tiger. A lack of subsequent development in the vicinity resulted in Laughanstown being the least used stop on the Luas Network. As of 2023, the land around the stop is again under development and new roads have been constructed close to the stop.

Some time ago a lady contacted me to advise me that is is Loughlinstown not Laughanstown she was incorrect as they are two different places. Laughanstown: The spelling of this name has varied considerably over time, and in some periods was almost indistinguishable from Loughlinstown, the name of which also varied. The spelling Laughanstown was adopted and fixed at the time of the original Ordnance Survey in the 1830s. However, the evidence suggests that the name used locally was Lehaunstown, and this was noted by the Boundary Survey in the 1820s. Local usage did not change as a result of the Ordnance Survey’s attempt to impose a new spelling.