LUAS Talk
This is a note that I wrote for an inhouse magazine in 2004. LB
‘– Is it what you told me the night we were standing outside Harcourt Street station? — Yes, Stephen said, smiling in spite of himself at Cranly’s way of remembering thoughts in connection with places.’
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Mission Statement of the James Joyce Centre)
The LUAS Green Line, running from St. Stephen’s Green to Sandyford, opened for passengers on 30 June 2004. In fact, this is not a new line, but a partial restoration of the Harcourt Street line, extended to St. Stephen’s Green by running on-street, just like the Dublin United Tramways Company trams did until 9 July 1949.
Your journey starts in St. Stephen’s Green. Imagine James Joyces’ Stephen Dedalus walking down Harcourt Street in 1904, being suddenly catapulted 100 years into the future, what would he make of the LUAS?
At first glance, things would seem familiar. The tram tracks and overhead wires would look the same, electric trams having been introduced in Dublin in 1896. The modern trams look more streamlined, and are single deck, but still recognisable as trams with their distinctive bell.
The Harcourt Street line opened for passengers on 10 July 1854. Our time traveller would notice the use of electric traction rather than steam. Electric Drumm battery trains were used on this line from 1932 to 1949, very like today’s DART.
Stephen would be pleased that the original plan to build the Harcourt Street line station in St. Stephen’s Green was finally achieved. The first attempt was abandoned, and the impressive Harcourt Street station was opened in 1859. The station building now houses the Pod nightclub, the Chocolate Bar (where the turntable for the steam engines was), and the Odeon bar. The new LUAS stop is outside the old station.
Our time traveller would see little difference on the line today.
Some new stations were added with names already entering our vocabulary (Charlemont, Cowper, Windy Arbour, Balally), some old stations with new names. The Ranelagh and Rathmines station and bridge were demolished, to be replaced by Beechwood station and a level crossing. One wonders why locals asked for a railway bridge to be replaced by a level crossing.
After Milltown station, the LUAS uses the original and very impressive Nine Arches viaduct.
William Dargan was the contractor who built the first Irish railway, Dublin to Dún Laoghaire, which opened in 1834. He also built the Harcourt Street Line. To get the line through Dundrum, he used an embankment and a small bridge, which were both removed in the 1960s. It cost €8M to construct the new William Dargan Bridge in Dundrum. It is ironic that the only piece of infrastructure on the line not built by Dargan is named after him! It is high time that our greatest railway engineer is honoured in this way. His statue stands in front of the National Gallery.
To get to the last stop in Sandyford from Brewery Road, you walk past the old Stillorgan station, which is now a private residence.
The rail service continued for 104 years, until the last passenger train left Harcourt Street on 31 December 1958 at 16.25. The departure time of the last train was kept secret so that rowdy scenes would be avoided as well wishers tried to get on the last train, sounding its last long melancholic siren punctuated by continuous detonators as it passed each station. The line was dismantled by June 1960; cynics might say that this was to prevent any campaign to reopen the line. When the line closed the effect on the economy of the area around Harcourt Street was devastating, including the closure of hotels, café and restaurants, schools of music, drama, medical practices, hair dressers etc.,
It is very hard to understand the reasons why the line was closed, particularly with the benefit of hindsight. However, things were different in the 1950s with high emigration, unemployment and little road traffic. Credit must be given to the officials who refused permission to build on the line, even when there seemed little hope of it being reopened.
In the 1950s, the “express” from Bray to Harcourt Street, with one stop in Ranelagh, took 20 minutes, while a stopping train took 30 minutes. It takes the LUAS 22 minutes to get to Sandyford, compared to 18 minutes for the train.
The experience of travelling on the line today is of using a world class metro system, at least for a brief moment. The line is outstanding, sleek, futuristic, impressive, until you get to the steep Peter’s Place ramp, a very sharp “S” bend at Adelaide Road, where the tram leaves the Harcourt Street Line and goes “on street”, and it then slows to a crawl accompanied by the screeching of the wheels against the tracks. I look forward to the day that the line will connect at each end – if the line continued to O’Connell Street it could link up with the Red line (Connolly – Heuston – Tallaght). When the line is extended to Bray, we will have the beginning of an integrated transport system.
One wonders why the rail gauge of the LUAS is 4 ft 8½ inches (international standard), while the DART is 5 ft 3 inches (Irish standard). This will make interoperability with the rest of the Irish rail system difficult when the line is extended to Bray.
When you travel on the LUAS Green Line today, you cannot but be impressed by the magnificent 19th century engineering, brought to life again with the aid of 21st century technology, and the tenacity of those who campaigned for its restoration.
Leo Bollins
22 July 2004
