The Railway Procurement Agency () was a state agency of the

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military * Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, charged with the development of

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

way and the future metro infrastructure.

History

The agency 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) () is 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 1993 in accordance with S.I. 407 of 1993 ...

(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. 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.

Work

The RPA's main role was overseeing the operation of the

Luas Luas (, Irish language, Irish: ; meaning 'speed') is a tram system in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. There are two main lines: the Green Line (Luas), Green Line, which began operating on 30 June 2004, and the Red Line (Luas), Red Line ...

system, along with the planning of new Luas and Metro 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 France-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. Transdev was formed on 3 April 2011 via the merg ...

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

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

, itself a subsidiary of CIÉ. The RPA was also charged with developing an

integrated ticketing Integrated ticketing enables a journey involving transfers within or between different modes of transportation using a single ticket that is valid for the entire journey. These modes include buses, trains, subways, and ferries, among others. The ...

system for all public transport modes in Dublin. This resulted in the introduction of the TFI Leap Card 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 ''Öffentlichke ...

, where necessary, of the following projects: *

Dublin Metro MetroLink is a proposed metro line for the city of Dublin. It replaces an earlier proposal called Metro North which was first recommended in the then Irish Government's 2005 Transport 21 transport plan. The line is proposed to run from Estua ...

, 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 () or Dublin Connolly is the busiest List of railway stations in Ireland, railway station in Dublin and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and is a focal point in the rail transport in Ireland, Irish route network. On the Northsid ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

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