IRELAND: The National Transport Authority is to hold a market awareness day on April 5 ahead of the planned call for tenders for the next contract to operate and maintain Dublin’s Luas light rail lines.
The existing five-year contract held by Transdev is due to end in the fourth quarter of 2019. NTA anticipates that the next contract would run for six years, with an option for up to a further five years. The contract has an estimated value of €45m/year; however, the final value would depend on factors including whether the contract is extended and plans to expand the system during the period of the new contract.
The Cross City line from St Stephen’s Green to Broombridge which is expected to open in December 2017 will take the Luas network to 43 km, with three depots and 73 Alstom Citadis light rail vehicles. A total of 34·2 million passengers were carried in 2016, and ridership is estimated at 42 million passenger-journeys in 2018.
