Luas Green Line outage a 'major concern for city businesses' as fault halts trams
Ellen O'Donoghue and Vivienne Clarke
The CEO of Dublin Town business advocacy group, Richard Guiney, has said that the closure of the Luas Green Line was of “major concern for city businesses.”
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Today with David McCullagh show, Mr Guiney said that 72 per cent of customers who shop in Dublin city travel in via public transport.
It comes as Dublin's Luas Green Line remains out of service on Thursday, following a major power outage.
Mr Guiney, who is also a member of the Dublin City Taskforce, added that 15 per cent of the customer base for the city travels by Luas and that the Green Line being down was definitely an issue of concern.
Thursday was an important day for late-night shopping, he said. The coming weekend was when things really started "ramping up" shopping-wise, and so there was a need for resolution.
Businesses wanted to see more sustainable transport, he said.
"We are not going to get where we need to be without the infrastructure, the likes of the Metro, and addressing issues like judicial reviews delaying things that we absolutely need.”
In a statement, Luas customer service told The Irish Times that engineers identified the fault lies within a “critical low-voltage safety system known as the 48-volt system”.
“This is not the overhead power system that powers the trams. Rather, it is part of the safety network that links substations to the central control room and allows power to be safely controlled and monitored across the line,” the statement said.
“In simple terms, this safety system is designed to shut down power to the overhead lines in the event of an emergency. The system is currently detecting a fault condition and, for safety reasons, will not permit the power to be fully restored until that condition is resolved.
“As a result, services on the Green Line remain suspended while repair work continues.”
Multiple Luas technicians are working to resolve the issue and restore power, the statement added.
The Green Line links Broombridge on Dublin’s northside to Brides Glen, near Cherrywood, in the south, crossing the city centre.
Red line services are running as normal, and Luas tickets are being accepted on Dublin Bus during the outage.
Transdev spokesperson Dervla Brophy, speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland, acknowledged that they still do not know when they will be able to restore power to the Green Line.
She said that 12 substations had been inspected where faulty components had been identified and narrowed the issue down to the area between Broombridge to O’Connell Street.
“We are working our way systematically through the Green Line and the substations. We don't at this moment have an idea as to when we're going to be able to restore power to the Green Line, but we do want to reassure customers that we are working our way systematically through the Green Line and the substations, and we have identified issues, and we will also be updating the public through the Luas app, through social media travel channels, traffic and travel updates, and the media," Ms Brophy said.
Ms Brophy apologised to customers and said that Luas tickets were valid on Dublin Bus. “We are doing our best to restore the service as soon as we possibly can.
“Technical issues do arise, and this is a very significant issue. To lose power on the Green Line in its entirety is very significant, and we are conscious it is impacting on customers and on the general public and their travel plans," she said.
"But we are working our way through the system, and that is the best way to do it in a methodical manner, and because the system is a fail-safe system. It's designed to fail in a safe mode, and that is the best way that the system can be designed. And it's why we are working our way through it in a methodical manner so that we can restore the service as soon as possible.”
