Luas system makes profit of €5.6m

Dublin's Luas system made a profit of more than €5 million and carried people on 26 million trips last year, the latest figures show.

The Rail Procurement Agency (RPA), the body responsible for the two-line Luas system in Dublin and developing other projects, released its annual report yesterday.

The figures show people made a total of 26 million journeys on the Luas last year compared to 22.2 million in 2005.

The service made a profit of €5.6 million last year, compared with €230,000 in 2005. The RPA's figures show that it received €43.5 million in taxpayers' money in grants.

Figures for other public transport services in the capital show that Dublin Bus carried over 146 million passengers in 2006 and made a surplus of €4.3 million. It received almost €70 million in taxpayers' money to help the company support unprofitable routes.

The Dart and other rail commuter services such as the Arrow, which serves satellite towns, carried 30 million passengers in 2006 and made a surplus of €13.5 million. It received subvention of €14 million.

Last year was the Luas' second full, 12-month period of operation. The two lines were launched separately in the second half of 2004.

One line links Stephen's Green in Dublin's city centre with Sandyford, an industrial estate on the capital's southern edge. The other connects Connolly and Heuston railway stations, both hubs for other rail and commuter services, with Tallaght, Dublin's biggest suburb.

The RPA's report notes that the Luas is busy at both peak and off-peak times, and also benefits from the fact that it serves several key shopping areas, in the city centre, Dundrum and Tallaght, where it terminates close to The Square shopping centre.

Multinational transport and infrastructure group, Veolia, operates the Luas under a public-private partnership arrangement with the RPA. The agency is working on further extension and development of the network that will ultimately see both lines connected, and extended - to Cherrywood and Bray, Co Wicklow in the case of the Stephen's Green route, and to Citywest in Saggart, Co Dublin, in the case of the Connolly Station service.

It will seek ultimately to extend to Lucan, and develop spurs taking in The Point in Dublin Docks, and Grangegorman on the city's northside.

The agency is also in the stages of planning two metro rail lines for Dublin. One will run from Stephen's Green to Dublin airport, and will have the capacity for 35 million passengers.The other will connect key employment centres in west Dublin, such as Tallaght, Blanchardstown and Abbotstown. It will carry up to 20 million passengers.

The RPA, chaired by former AIB boss, Tom Mulcahy, said that, under the new programme for Government, it will "support the assessment of developing light rail systems in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. We are also examining the development of a Luas line to Rathfarnham".