Passenger Rail, Informa Insights

Quality of rail, tram and people key to Dublin’s light rail success

Luas tram stopped at Abbey Street, Dublin, 2012. Photo William Murphy

Brian Brennan, managing director of Transdev Ireland, says the success of Dublin’s Luas light rail system is down to the quality of the employees, vehicles, and system itself.

“The system that was built in Dublin is of a very, very high quality,” Brennan said last week at Informa’s 2015 Light Rail conference in  It’s fully accessible, [and] has got an excellent tram.

“The opportunity then was for Transdev to recruit high calibre people – experienced personnel – to allow us to develop a world class network.”

Innovation, he said, was also key to the network’s successful implementation.

“We’ve continually tried to innovate, and this was recognised by some national awards throughout the last number of years.”

Luas was opened in 2004, replacing Dublin’s old tramways network. It is operated by Transdev, the same company which operates Sydney’s existing light rail network, along with Auckland’s urban passenger trains, and other transport networks around Australia.

See the full interview with Brian Brennan below.