The last Citadis tramway delivered to RPA in Dublin

On 20 December 2010, Alstom handed over the 66th Citadis tram to the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) in Dublin, at the Sandyford maintenance depot. This last tram completes Dublin’s fleet that operates the city’s light rail system, Luas. When it opened in 2004, the Luas initially counted 40 Citadis trams configured into 26 thirty-metre units for the Red Line and 14 forty-metre units for the Green Line. Thanks to the popularity of the system the RPA decided to take advantage of the modular concept of the tram design and in 2007 asked Alstom to extend the Red Line trams to forty metres, thus providing 40% extra capacity on the line. In 2007 the RPA ordered 18 additional trams and in 2008, a further 6 vehicles, to support operations on line extensions bringing the fleet to a total of 66 forty-metre trams. Working closely with RPA and operator Veolia, Alstom maintains the trams at depots at Red Cow and Sandyford as well as the system infrastructure, with a workforce of around 90 people. The Citadis trams serving the Luas have covered over 17 million kilometres and have carried over 160 million passengers since 2004.