Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Lahart for raising the important topic of the inadequate and inconsistent Luas red line services to Citywest. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan. I will clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport, but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the NTA. The NTA works with public transport operators, which deliver the services and have responsibility for their day-to-day operation.

That said, I reassure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options. Public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal.

To support this objective, under budget 2024, a funding package of approximately €613.463 million has been secured for public service obligation and Local Link services. This package includes funding for the continuation of the 20% fare reduction on PSO services, the extension of the young adult card on both PSO and commercial bus services to include 24 year olds and 25 year olds, and the continuation of the 90 minute fare until the end of 2024. Funding has also been secured to support the continued roll-out of new and enhanced bus and rail services this year. As Deputy Lahart is aware, the Government is committed to improving public transport services and is backing that up with a commitment to significant infrastructure investments on the network.

I understand that intermittently throughout 2023 there were issues affecting Luas performance on the red line. These issues arose primarily due to tram availability and driver absences. Tram availability is primarily related to the Luas operator and maintainer being able to keep up with preventative and corrective maintenance on the 40 red line trams, and the 27 known as peak vehicle requirement, PVR. If a tram has not gone through the preventative maintenance cycle, it cannot enter service. Driver absence on Luas is typically in the region of 5%. However, at times in 2023 it was higher than 12%.

The combination of these factors unfortunately had a negative impact on service provision on the red line service last year. However, I am advised that so far in 2024 the Luas service has performed well in terms of tram availability. I understand that there was also a disruption of services on sections of the Luas red line in August and September 2023, which were mainly due to signalling faults at Cookstown. I am advised the root cause of the issue was identified, and there has been no re-occurrence of this technical fault since 9 September 2023.

However, I reassure Deputy Lahart that Transdev is working towards a strategy of enhancement of Luas services. This includes work on timetable improvements, exploring the potential for shuttle services and the replacement of the red line fleet. These changes are subject to funding and the availability of the required maintenance personnel. I understand that Transport Infrastructure Ireland is currently considering a Luas fleet renewal programme, and they have initiated a market consultation on this process. I am advised the fleet renewal programme, which will extend over a number of years given the procurement and subsequent tram building and commissioning phases, includes a proposal to increase the number of trams assigned to the Luas red line which runs from Tallaght to the Point and from Saggart to Connolly Station, covering 21 km of light rail track with 34 stops. I also reassure the Deputy that the Department of Transport, the NTA and Transdev are working to ensure the optimised deployment of resources across the public transport network to match changing passenger demand patterns.

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