The Luas Green Line Capacity Enhancement project will provide extra capacity on the Luas Green Line over the coming years. It will cater for the growing demand on the line in the short to medium term.
It includes lengthening the existing green line trams to 55m length, plus the purchase of 8 additional 55m long trams. A major expansion of Sandyford Depot is underway to facilitate the growth in the green line fleet. An order has been placed with Alstom to lengthen the existing tram fleet.
Power system upgrades will also be required along the green line to facilitate the additional and longer trams.
In October 2019, the first of the newly-extended trams to run on the Luas Green Line was introduced, and 25 more are to be extended and enter service over the next 14 months. The 11.1m extension increases the length of the tram from 44m to 55m and increases passenger capacity by 30%.
Each of the 26 trams is being extended by the addition of 2 new modules per tram measuring 11.1m long in total. This will convert the Luas Citadis 402 type trams (43.6m) into longer Luas Citadis 502 type trams (54.7m).
The extended trams will increase passenger capacity from 319 to 408. (89 more passengers per tram)
In addition to these extended trams, eight brand new 55m trams are expected to be delivered in 2020, all of which will have a passenger capacity of 408. Seven 55m trams were introduced into the fleet last year.
We hope this major programme of investment will ease the pressure on Luas Green Line services. The number of journeys on Luas has increased from 30.5 million in 2013 to 41.8 million in 2018 and demand continues to grow. Commuter peak-time services on the Luas Green Line are in particularly high demand.
Visit the Luas website for more information.