Background to LUAS

The Dublin Transportation Initiative (DTI) report of April 1994 included a wide-ranging set of recommendations aimed at realising clearly identified transportation, land use and environmental objectives for the Greater Dublin Area.

The report recommended the establishment of a three-line light rail transit (LRT) system linking Tallaght, Ballymun and Cabinteely to the City Centre. The establishment cost was estimated at £300m.

In October 1994 the Government requested CIE to begin preliminary work on the establishment of the system and £200m was allocated for this purpose. Reflecting the availability of funding, after careful study, the following phasing was recommended:
Phase 1: Tallaght to Dundrum / Balally via the City Centre
Phase 2: Ballymun to the City Centre and Dundrum / Balally to Sandyford

In July 1996 the Transport (Dublin Light Rail) Act, 1996 was enacted. This Act provided a legal framework within which CIE might apply to the Minister for Public Enterprise for "Light Railway Orders" (LRO's) granting CIE powers to construct, operate and maintain light railways. The holding of a public inquiry in respect of each application was a mandatory requirement of the Act.

In May 1997 CIE submitted an application to the Minister for Public Enterprise for a Light Railway Order for Phase 1 and the Government committed additional funding for the extension of the line from Dundrum/Balally to Sandyford Industrial Estate. A public inquiry was opened in July 1997 but was adjourned pending the findings of a Government commissioned consultant report on the option of constructing the LRT system underground in the City Centre.

The consultants were commissioned in October 1997 and reported in April 1998. The report concluded that a surface system would be the most appropriate and cost effective option in meeting the transport needs of the city and providing capacity to meet long-term passenger demands.

In May 1998 the Government decided to proceed with an LRT system comprising a surface line from Tallaght to Connolly Station (based on the CIE preferred surface alignment from Tallaght to O'Connell Street) and a line from Sandyford Industrial Estate to Ballymun and Dublin Airport using the Harcourt Street and Broadstone disused railway alignments. The Government also decided that a section of the LRT system would run underground in the City Centre between St.Stephen's Green and Broadstone.

In line with the Government's decision CIE withdrew the application which it had submitted in respect of a line from Tallaght to Dundrum/Balally and a subsequent application which it had made in respect of an extension from Dundrum/Balally to Sandyford Industrial Estate. The CIE Light Rail Project Office now set about implementing the plan for the first phase of the Luas in line with the Government's decision of May 1998.

In July 2000 the Minister for Public Enterprise announced that the Government had approved in principle the development of a metro system on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis. The Minister also confirmed that the St. StephenÕs Green to Sandyford Industrial Estate Line was to be constructed in accordance with the Light Railway Order made in 1999 and, in time, would be integrated with the metro system. In October 2000 the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) published "A Platform for Change - Outline of an Integrated transportation Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area - 2000 to 2016" incorporating Luas and metro lines.

The DTO strategy provides an overall planning framework for the development of the transport system in the Greater Dublin Area and the Government has confirmed that it accepts the broad thrust of the strategy. Some of the Luas lines incorporated in the DTO strategy are currently being constructed or are at planning stage. Other Luas lines and the metro system must now be taken through a detailed planning process involving, as appropriate, route selection, public consultation, technical feasibility studies, economic and environmental evaluations, detailed design and statutory approval procedures.

In December 2001 the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act, 2001 was enacted and the Transport (Dublin Light Rail) Act, 1996 was repealed. The new Act contains provisions similar to the repealed act in respect of Luas and metro systems, facilitates the exploitation of the benefits of public-private partnerships (PPP's) in developing Luas and metro systems and provides for the establishment of the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) as a stand alone, commercial semi-state organisation responsible for the procurement of railway infrastructure systems.

On 28 December 2001 the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) was established. The RPA has since subsumed the role of the former CIE Light Rail Project Office. The first RPA board meeting was held in January 2002. In February 2002 the Minister for Public Enterprise announced that Connex was the preferred bidder for the Luas operator franchise.