The Railway Procurement Agency ( ga, An Ghníomhaireacht um Fháil Iarnród) was a state agency of the

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport The Department of Transport ( ga, An Roinn Iompair) is a department of the Government of Ireland that is responsible for transport policy and overseeing transport services and infrastructure. The department is led by the Minister for Transport ...

in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, charged with the development of light railway and the future

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

infrastructure. It was established on 28 December 2001 under the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001 and dissolved on 1 August 2015 under the terms of the Roads Act 2015, when all of its functions were transferred to the

National Roads Authority The National Roads Authority (NRA) ( ga, An tÚdarás um Bóithre Náisiúnta) was a state body in Ireland, responsible for the national road network. The NRA was established as part of the Roads Act 1993 and commenced operations on 23 December ...

(NRA). In order to better reflect its expanded remit, the NRA has since 1 August 2015 described itself for operational purposes as

Transport Infrastructure Ireland Transport Infrastructure Ireland ( ga, Bonneagar Iompair Éireann) is a state agency in Ireland dealing with road and public transport infrastructure. The body was established in 2015 by merging the former National Roads Authority and Railway P ...

. Many of the staff of the agency came from the Light Rail Project Office of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), which was dissolved upon the RPA's inception. The agency operated completely independently of CIÉ. This was due to a fear by the government that CIÉ's implementation of new rail projects would be slow and inefficient, as the company is not well regarded by the country's political leadership. The RPA's main role was overseeing the operation of the

Luas Luas (pronounced ; Irish for "speed") is a tram/ light rail system in Dublin, Ireland. There are two main lines: the Green Line, which began operating on 30 June 2004, and the Red Line which opened on 26 September 2004. Since then, both li ...

system, along with the planning of new Luas and

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

lines for Dublin as laid out under the Irish Government's Capital Investment Plan. The operation of the Luas is contracted out to

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. History The group was formed by the merger of ...

, and the RPA were responsible for monitoring their performance. The agency had no role in the mainline railway system, which is operated by

Iarnród Éireann Iarnród Éireann () or Irish Rail, is the operator of the national railway network of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ). It operates all internal InterCity, Commuter, DART and fr ...

, itself a subsidiary of CIÉ. The RPA was also charged with developing an integrated ticketing system for all public transport modes in Dublin. This resulted in the introduction of the

Leap card The TFI Leap Card is a contactless smart card for automated fare collection overseen by Transport for Ireland (TFI). It was introduced in the Greater Dublin area in 2011 for Luas, DART, Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus, but acceptance has sig ...

on 12 December 2011.

National Transport Authority initiatives

The RPA had a crucial role in implementing key rail elements of the Irish Government's initiatives, administered by the National Transport Authority. It was responsible for the planning, coordination and procurement through conventional means, and through

Public Private Partnership In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

, where necessary, of the following projects: *

Dublin Metro MetroLink is a proposed metro line for the city of Dublin. It was first recommended in the then Irish Government's 2005 Transport 21 transport plan. The sole line is proposed to run from Estuary on Dublin's northside to Charlemont on the south ...

, consisting of Metro North and Metro West- Deferred indefinitely in 2011. *The RPA was also responsible for planning new

lines to Lucan, along with a second Green line extension to Bray. The RPA was also responsible for the following projects, all now complete: *

Connolly Station Connolly station ( ga, Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile) or Dublin Connolly is one of the busiest railway stations in Dublin and Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. On the North side of the River Liffey, it provides InterCi ...

Point Depot The Point Theatre (sometimes referred to as the Point Depot or simply as the Point) was a concert and events venue in Dublin, Ireland, that operated from 1988 to 2007, visited by in excess of 2 million people. It was located on the North Wall Qu ...

extension - Red Line (Completed in 2009). *

Sandyford Sandyford () is a suburb of Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. Sandyford Business District makes up much of the suburb and encompasses 4 business parks: Sandyford Business Park, Stillorgan Business Park, Central Park and S ...

to Cherrywood/Brides Glen extension - Green Line (Completed in 2010). *Belgard to

Citywest Citywest ( ga, Iarthar na Cathrach) is a suburban development on the southwestern periphery of Dublin, originally developed as a "business campus." It contains a large hotel, with a convention centre, a small shopping centre and a small but ex ...

extension - Red Line (Completed in 2011). *

St Stephen's Green St Stephen's Green () is a garden square and public park located in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current landscape of the park was designed by William Sheppard. It was officially re-opened to the public on Tuesday, 27 July 1880 by L ...

to Broombridge (Luas Cross City) extension - Green Line (Completed in 2017).

Controversies

Luas Red Line engineering

In 2006, the RPA were criticised for allowing the Red Line to be opened, in the knowledge that parts of the track support of line were faulty in regards to track support. This became public through an independent report by Austrian consultants.

Chief Executive dispute

Early on the CIÉ project director of Luas, Donal Mangan, took legal action as he felt that he had the right to be its chief executive.RPA battle with ex-Luas boss to escalate: ThePost.ie
For two years the agency paid his salary and gave him an office, even though the chief executive's position had been filled by Frank Allen.

References

External links

Railway Procurement Agency
(archived 2004)
Rail Users Ireland - Ireland's National Rail User organisation
{{Authority control Transport companies of the Republic of Ireland Rail transport in the Republic of Ireland Tram transport in the Republic of Ireland