LUAS

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Sumatra

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Two LUAS lines.

Is it true that they do not share the same gauge?
 
Same Gauge

This different gauge theory was flatly denied by someone from the Government, I'm pretty sure it was Seamus Brennan when he was minister.

It was during an interview on The Last Word over a year ago.

Beyond that I don't know I haven't looked too closely at the rails, but I really doubt even our bunch of misfits could have made that much of a cock up. There'd be no point would there, in using different gauges?

-Rd
 
different gauge theory

"I really doubt even our bunch of misfits could have made that much of a cock up"

What do ya bet?
 
Same gauge

They are definitely the same gauge. One of the shorter Red Line trams was recently in operation on the Green Line when some of it's trams were out of action. It was moved on a transporter from Red Cow to Sandyford.
 
Re: Same gauge

Wasn't the issue more that the Luas light rail gauge is different to the (non standard in the wider world) Irish gauge on the main DART/rail network - for all that that matters seeing that they are incompatible anyway (one convex and the other concave if you get my gist)?
 
Re: Same gauge

Spot on ClubMan. The rail network operates on a gauge of 5' 3", while Luas operates on the standard European gauge of 4' 8" (1435mm)
 
The Tallaght line has shorter carriages of 30 metres. They got all the short ones because they're poor.
 
Well done, OK so Ill eat my hat.

I read with interest:

"In other aspects, the two lines are identical except that the clearance between the inbound and outbound lines on the Green Line is slightly wider than on the Red Line. 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 that of the old railway line and as such has few interactions with vehicular or pedestrian traffic. The route of the Red Line was constructed largely on or beside public roads and would not be suited to wider faster metro trains."
 
For all you trainspotters, I came across this many years ago and have Google'd for it [broken link removed].

Ah, no nasty copyrights so here it is:
WHY IS THE RAIL GAUGE IN THE U.S. 4 FEET 8.5 INCHES? In the United States the standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number, so why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. So the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches was derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses. Now the ironic twist to the story... When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory at Utah. The engineers who designed the SRB would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass! And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important.
Click to expand...
 
They got all the short ones because they're poor

Repaymentator wrote:
The Tallaght line has shorter carriages of 30 metres. They got all the short ones because they're poor.
Click to expand...

And I thought it was because the bend at the St. James hospital does not allow the longer ones.

But your explanation makes way more sense to me.
 
"The Tallaght line has shorter carriages of 30 metres. They got all the short ones because they're poor"

Spoke to one of guys who installed it some time ago and one of the explanations for the shorter carriages is that there are more stops on the red line.
 
Re: They got all the short ones because they're poor

Does that not mean picking up more passengers which might warrant longer carriages?
 
"Does that not mean picking up more passengers which might warrant longer carriages?"

Dunno. They were originally meant to run at 5 min frequency peak time but are still at 7.5 and possibly extend to 10 min on a bad day.

If stay late at work and arrive at Jervis at 6oc it is better to travel up to Connolly to ensure seat and avoid crowds at Jervis.

Husband's description of kids pretending to be squashed at windows recently was funny. But then again they were probably Rovers supporters!
 
Re: They got all the short ones because they're poor

If stay late at work and arrive at Jervis at 6oc it is better to travel up to Connolly to ensure seat and avoid crowds at Jervis.

Yeah - Jervis is mad at the best of times. :eek

But then again they were probably Rovers supporters!

I won't hear a bad word said against our paying tenants! ;)
 
"I won't hear a bad word said against our paying tenants"

Yeah, best not to shoot yourself in the foot.! :lol
 
..

"The Tallaght line has shorter carriages of 30 metres. They got all the short ones because they're poor"

>>Spoke to one of guys who installed it some time ago and one of the explanations for the shorter carriages is that there are more stops on the red line.

Funny that, I was told there was less carriages because during testing they had trouble getting up the hill at kingswood coming up to the belgard road.
Not familiar with the sandyford line, is there any similar gradient hills to put this theory to the test?
 
"they had trouble getting up the hill at kingswood coming up to the belgard road"

The hill at Kingswood is a lot less trouble to them than the one at Stephen's Hill (where the hospital used to be). For whatever reason they also take it very gingerly on the spot heading in/out of the Red Cow station.

Haven't used the green line yet but saw it on telly one night where it appeared to slowly attempt, I think, the switch to the old Harcourt St. line?
 
Doesn't look much like a lane - wonder which stupid man made that mistake ;)
 
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