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Irish for "speed," the Luas light rail system operating today in central Dublin is currently undergoing a period of major expansion, with a network of new connector lines soon to criss-cross the city centre. Begun in 2004, Luas has been a major success, with 36.5 kilometres of light rail spread over 54 stations within the Irish Capital, thus restoring a major part of Dublin's historic light rail legacy. With a history that spans back to nearly half a century before Irish Independence, the Dublin Tramways were once the pride of the Emerald Isle, a model of modern mass transportation upon which many others have been based. This edition of Once Upon a Tram will take an in-depth look into the rich history of the Dublin Tramway, along with its 21st century successor, Luas, which has been leading the charge for Dublin's light rail renaissance.
Begun in 1871, what eventually became the Dublin United Tramways Company (DUTC), was the result of the Irish Tramways Act of 1860, which joined similar campaigns across the UK seeking local parliamentary action in regards to establishing street rail networks within cities across all of Great Britain and Ireland. Typical of most street rail services of this era, the first generation of trams and trolleys to grace the streets of Dublin were horse drawn, with operations overseen by a handful of distinct geographically-based private transportation companies, all of which were soon bought up and amalgamated under one roof, under the auspices of the aforementioned DUTC.
By the mid-1880s, local newspaper magnate and tram enthusiast, William Martin Murphy, had consolidated all of Dublin's private street rail companies into the DUTC, which he owned and operated along with his father-in-law, bringing 32 miles, or the vast majority, of track under monopoly control. By the early 1890s, by which time street rail networks around the globe were beginning to electrify, the DUTC ran into stiff opposition from several prominent members of the Dublin Corporation (Dublin City Hall), who cited concerns about the perceived dangers of electrification, especially the presence of overhead wires along heavily pedestrian thoroughfares. In return for their cooperation, the DUTC agreed to pay the Dublin Corporation a fee of £500 per route mile for 40 years, along with a minimum of £10,000 per year when the system was fully electrified. This, in addition to a promise to charge no more than one penny per fare within the city bounds, worked to clear the way for electrification, which proceeded without further delay in 1896. The entirety of the DUTC's 66 miles (106 kilometres) of street rail network electrified by 1901.
Over the next two decades, the Dublin Tramway became world renowned for its reach, speed, and efficiency. The streets of Dublin and her suburbs were abuzz with the regular rumble of trams and trolleys, carrying Dubliners to and fro from every corner of the city. They were a prominent feature in James Joyce's celebrated 1922 masterpiece, Ulysses, which explores the life of protagonist Leopold Bloom over the course of a single day in the Spring of 1904. Trams were part of the backdrop of a modern city, a staple of life during this period and a general symbol of the type of urban modernity and related modernist literary tradition, of which Joyce soon became a leading figure. Indeed, as would have been the case in cities around the globe, the sight and sound of trolleys and trams would have been increasingly familiar, viewed by many as a sign of the modern times in which they were living.
By 1910, the DUTC network had reached its zenith, operating along 17 distinct routes, each with its own unique symbol and identifier and named after its two terminal stations. The DUTC ran a fleet of 330 trams, including the Director's Tram, used by William Martin Murphy and others to carry out track inspections and repairs.
Viewed above, the DUTC Route Guide from 1910 includes the name and associated symbol and major artery for all of the system's 17 tram routes, an innovative step at the time that pre-dates the modern way-finding efforts of numerous other transit systems today. Below, a partial system map from 1912 highlights a significant portion of central east Dublin, including Trinity College and the Liffey, with various tram routes indicated in red, and heavy rail outlined in black.
To support the urban street rail network, there were a handful of suburban and interurban commuter rail services that operated outside of the DUTC's jurisdiction. These were run by a collection of private companies which had managed to hold on to their businesses despite the success of the urban monopoly. Run as a mixture of steam tramways and electric tramways, these services were critical to the daily lives of thousands of commuters and day-trippers alike from the small towns and suburbs circling the Irish Capital throughout the first half of the twentieth century.
Despite its breakaway success, the DUTC's tram operations quickly declined after the addition of buses to the fleet in 1925. Though this was early by international standards, it heralded the rapid decline of street rail usage in Dublin over the next two decades, and Dublin's last tram retired on July 10, 1949. After pushing for their demise as early as 1930, the Irish Parliament opted against any future refurbishment or new equipment acquisition plans for its tram network, as public tastes at the time were swinging heavily in favour of the motor bus. By the 1940s, the original fleet of 330 trams had been reduced to just 113, the toll of the automobile and advent of the diesel bus having already begun to transform the future of Dublin's public transit for the next 60 years.
Dublin's modern light rail network began life quite humbly in 2004, with just two lines, the Green Line and the Red Line, which were eventually extended and spilt into a handful of routes servicing several areas within central Dublin. Begun as commuter lines, with service from the suburbs to the city centre, and thus with rather limited intra-city service, the Luas mirrors the modern-day implementation of several other such systems which have since come into being over the last decade across Europe and North America.
Eventually expanded to its present length of 36.5 kilometres serving 54 stations, the Luas light rail network is currently undergoing a further period of expansion. Moving towards a more intra-urban mentality, the network will soon offer a far greater deal of interconnectivity within the city centre, with some new tracks being laid along downtown routes that would have most certainly been served by trams during Dublin's Golden Age of street rail at the outset of the twentieth century. Once complete, it is hoped that Luas ridership, which currently rests at an impressive (for its current size and scope) 89,000 passengers per day, or 34.6 million per year, will grow exponentially, as the added usability inherent to a more urban-oriented transit system is likely to generate a great deal more ridership and public utility.
Pictured above, a central part of the current Luas light rail expansion will see the return of streetcar tracks to several areas of the city in which trams and trolleys were once a staple of daily life. Compared to the archival image posted earlier in this story, it is evident that it will not be long before the type of urban vibrancy that once defined much of central Dublin will be restored. Set to open in 2017, the expansion will add more than six kilometres to the network, a significant upgrade especially in the context of its urban focus, in which a few kilometres of track can go a long way. Once again a leader in the realm of light rail and public transportation generally, Dublin has reclaimed its spot amid the greats, with further expansion projects yet to come.
SkyriseCities will return soon with a new edition of Once Upon a Tram, which will take an in-depth look at the transit legacy of a city near you. In the meantime, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below. Got an idea for this series? Let us know!
