On March 31st 2007 RPA entered into a €51m contract with Alstom for an additional 18 Luas vehicles. Following the successful granting of a Railway Order by An Bord Pleanála for Luas Citywest (Line A1), RPA increased the original order to 26 trams with the addition of 8 more, at an additional cost of €22.
These trams have been purchased to ensure RPA maintain the same timetable service frequency on both Luas Red and Green Lines when the extensions to the lines, Luas Docklands (Line C1), Luas Cherrywood (Line B1) and Luas Citywest (Line A1) are complete.
The first of the 26 new trams was delivered on February 25th 2009 and deliveries will continue over the coming months. Following their arrival these new Luas trams will be tested before going into service.
First 43 Metre Tram Arrives in Ireland
The addition of these 26 new trams to Luas fleet will bring the number of trams from the current 40 trams to a total of 66 trams, 26 trams on the future extended Luas Green Line and 40 trams on the future extended Luas Red Line.