The Dublin United Transport Company (DUTC) operated

trams A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ar ...

and

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

until 1945. Following legislation in the

Oireachtas The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the bicameral parliament of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of: *The President of Ireland *The two houses of the Oireachtas ( ga, Tithe an Oireachtais): ** Dáil Éireann ...

, the ''Transport Act, 1944'', the DUTC and the

Great Southern Railways The Great Southern Railways Company (often Great Southern Railways, or GSR) was an Irish company that from 1925 until 1945 owned and operated all railways that lay wholly within the Irish Free State (the present-day Republic of Ireland). The ...

were vested in the newly formed Córas Iompair Éireann on 1 January 194

History

Formation

The DUTC was formed by the merging of several of Dublin's existing tram operators in 1891, that is: *The Dublin tramways, Dublin Tramways Company *The North Dublin Street Tramways Company *The Dublin Central Tramways Company

Expansion and electrification

Dublin's first electric trams were run between Haddington Road and Dalkey in 1896, initially by the Dublin Southern Tramways Company, but soon incorporated into the DUTC, as it purchased from the Imperial Tramways Company and integrated that company, itself comprising: *The Dublin Southern Districts Tramways Company *The Blackrock and Kingstown Tramway The DUTC subsequently changed its name to the Dublin United Tramways Company (1896) Limited, and later again changed the "Tramways" part of its name to "Transport" in 1941, reflecting the increasing use of buses and a reduction of the tram fleet. The DUTC's

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

(sometimes known as "the Flying Snail") was adopted as the logo of CIÉ and continued to be painted on the sides of Ireland's buses and trains until the 1960s. The company's

Sandymount Sandymount () is an affluent coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.

depot was on Gilford Road.

Other tram companies in Dublin

The

Hill of Howth Tramway The Howth Tram on the Hill of Howth Tramway was a tram which served Howth Head, near Dublin, Ireland. The termini were at Sutton railway station, by the entrance to the peninsula, and Howth railway station by the village and harbour of Howth. ...

(which closed in 1959) was never part of the DUTC, instead being operated by the

Great Northern Railway (Ireland) The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (GNR(I) or GNRI) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland. It was formed in 1876 by a merger of the Irish North Western Railway (INW), Northern Railway of Ireland, and Ulster Railway. The governme ...

prior to that company's incorporation into

CIÉ Córas Iompair Éireann (''Irish Transport Company''), or CIÉ, is a statutory corporation of Ireland, answerable to the Irish Government and responsible for most public transport within the republic and jointly with its Northern Ireland counter ...

(and the UTA) in 1958.

Rail Gauge

Unlike the gauge being used by 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 ...

tram system (opened in 2004), the DUTC trams used the gauge.

References

External links

Preserved DUTC tramcar 253National Transport Museum of Ireland
Bus transport in the Republic of Ireland Tram transport in the Republic of Ireland Defunct intermodal transport authorities Defunct transport companies of the Republic of Ireland {{Ireland-transport-stub