There was an advertisement today in connection with the RPA seeking a light railway order to encompass the Broadstone Line trackbed.The cretins have won out over the more sensible heavy rail proposal from Irish Rail.
Ireland - the country that never learns.
Went into Dublin today to do some shopping and as I usually do, I parked in Rialto and got the LUAS over. Having tagged on with my smartcard, I got on the citybound tram. There were 3 CSOs on the tram, one issuing a penalty fare and who then proceeded to escort another person off the tram at Heuston Station.
One of the other two CSOs them came down the tram and asked for my ticket. No one between me and where he had been was checked. Why was I singled out? Sorry to have disappointed you by having a tagged on smartcard. Fill your quota on someone else.
RPA 1, Public 0
But that hardly surprises me.
The story here (from RTE) is a couple who took the RPA to court over the noise of the LUAS at the end of their garden. Two points in the judgement of Justice Mary Laffoy are worth commenting on as they show why the public have no rights in this country, only the duty to pay the bills of cretinous organisations like the RPA.
She stated that the noise issue was covered in the Railway Order. Anyone with a brain knows that Railway Order inquiries are a sham and ultimately unconstitutional as they reject anything that would require the submission of a new order by the requesting body (the failure rate of such inquiries must be at the same level as planning permission rejections, otherwise the State is failing to treat all equally or not at all).
The second point is that the RPA have failed to comply with a requirement to set daytime and nighttime noise levels, but her learned justice stated that this does not prove a nuisance. What happened to the old common law requirement of approaching equity with clean hands?
Justice Laffoy is another stuffed shirt in an ivory tower. Maybe one day, the Irish people will elect a Government that will revoke the administrative sanction of all Quangos (including the RPA) and then we will see Frank Allen & Co squirm.
According to the Evening Herald, the Stasi are to patrol the LUAS complete with truncheons. Can anyone carry and use a truncheon, given that it is now obviously legal to set up your own private army.
Can’t wait for the first tramspotter to be beaten up for taking a photo.
Having paid to rename the Point Depot to the O2, the mobile phone company (a subsidiary of Spanish company Telefonica) have objected that the LUAS terminus at their back door is not called likewise - according to the Sunday Tribune in an article in today’s paper.
I would take the view that the RPA should offer the naming rights to the station to O2 (or any bidder) for the highest price. Perhaps Vodafone would be interested 
I am aware that 20 years ago, you could buy tapes of train sounds - which have probably migrated to CDs and MP3s since.
I’m not sure what to make of this.
The Irish Independent has reported that there is the risk of fatigue affected LUAS drivers due to excessive periods of time between breaks on their shift.
The Irish Times had a piece today about photography in “public” areas. more often than not, so called public areas are management company controlled fiefdoms - especially if owned by the State (like the IFSC). The Irish Times asked both the RPA and IR about photography on their respective “property” (i.e. our property).
The RPA repeated the parrot line about the bye laws not permitting photography as it “interferes” with other people. Bull shit. Others have been told that cameras will be confiscated. This is called theft. Others have been told that Veolia own the copyright in the tram. Bullshit. I was in Montpelier recently and saw the same trams there. In addition, the European copyright directive expressly states that the copyright in a photograph rests with the taker - even in the case of a structure (which would include a tram or a tram stop) - and not with the structure owner.
Finally, there is the issue of freedom of expression. The courts have declared begging to be a constitutionally protected form of freedom of expression. I would take the view that taking photographs is similarly protected.
And now to Irish Rail. Normally, this is where I would be off on a rant about what right do they have to do this. They surprised me (for the second time in as many weeks!). Barry Kenny is quoted as stating that they have no problem with hand held cameras and that they are used to railway enthusiasts taking photographs. Tripods require a permit and indemnity (fair enough - I have a tripod, somewhere - I never use it!). Maybe for trainspotters (i.e. taking photographs of moving trains) a tripod is of benefit. Personally, I have no interest in trains and I find that buildings don’t move so carrying a tripod is just a pain in the a***.
Long may IRs policy continue and may the RPA/Veolia see sense over time. After all, I’d hate to be the one to start arresting LUAS drivers for blocking box junctions and as for the uncollected litter at your stops….
Partly because I was France when it happened and also because there was injury to people involved, Iron Road Aaron plans to refrain from comment on the LUAS/bus crash on O’Connell Street last week.
I have always wondered how LUAS inspectors check if you have tagged on or not when you have a LUAS smartcard. Since I got my LUAS smartcard about two years ago, I had not encountered a LUAS inspector on any LUAS journey I was on, until tonight.
The inspectors carry a little gadget against which they press the smartcard. Now for the next question, how does this work? Is something changed in the smartcard when you tag on (the smartcard is essentially an RFID tag) or is it communicating with wherever the LUAS central computer is to check if the card has been tagged on or not?