Luas Operating Contract

Quantity or scope

The scope of services for Luas includes the operation of the Luas network which currently consists of two geographically separate lines, known respectively as the Luas Red Line and the Luas Green Line. The Luas Red Line extends from Tallaght, in the south west of Dublin, through the city centre, to The Point in the Dublin Docklands with two spurs, a short spur branching off at Busáras stop to serve Connolly railway station and a spur branching off the line at Belgard to serve Saggart. The line consists of twin tracks and is 20.5 km in length overall. The Red Line has 32 stops. Park and Ride facilities are located at three of these stops: Tallaght; Cheeverstown and Red Cow.The Luas Green Line extends from Bride's Glen in the south east of Dublin to St. Stephen's Green in the south city centre. The line consists of twin tracks and is 16.3km in length overall. The Green Line has 22 stops currently in service. Park and Ride facilities are located at four of these stops: Carrickmines, Sandyford, Stillorgan and Ballally.Luas Broombridge will represent the next addition to Dublin's Luas light rail system. Running from the Luas Green Line terminus at St. Stephen's Green through the city centre, Phibsborough and Cabra to Broombridge the new line will link the Luas Red and Green Lines and will be 5.6km in length and with 13 stops.Depot and stabling facilities for the Luas Red Line are located at Red Cow and for the Luas Green Line at Sandyford.The infrastructure also includes three retail kiosks at Ranelagh, Beechwood and Smithfield and a converted station house building at Dundrum.The current operator employs approximately 280 employeesThe Luas Red Line is served by 40 Citadis 401 type vehicles, 40 metres long and 2.4 metres wide.The Luas Green Line is served by 26 Citadis 402 type vehicles, 43 metres long and 2.4 metres wide.The contract may include the maintenance of the fare collection system. The existing automatic fare collection system consists of approximately 175 ticket vending machines and 265 smartcard validators located on stop platforms. All of the devices are connected to a Central System Server, located in the Red Cow depot, via the Luas communications network. Ticket vending machines issue paper tickets and provide Top-up facilities for smartcards. Leap Card, the integrated smartcard for the Greater Dublin Area, is accepted by validators and ticket machines. Luas operates an open ticketing system with roving ticket inspectors. There is no on-board ticket validation equipment.The services, the subject of this notice, may also include the operation of other extensions delivered during the period of the contract.

Additional information

— The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) is acting as the agent of NTA in administering this procurement process,

— Any rights to be exercised by RPA in relation to this procurement may be exercised by the NTA,

— NTA under statutory assignment as provided for in the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, will assign management functions to the RPA in relation to the management of the contract,

— NTA and RPA shall not be responsible for any costs, expenses or charges incurred by candidates or tenderers involved in this process,

— Award of contracts will be subject to the approval of the competent authorities,

— Award of contracts may be subject to successful interview,

— If as a result of institutional reform RPA merges with, or is subsumed into, other public bodies, NTA reserves the right to use this procurement procedure to procure services for the new entity,

— Candidates are advised that NTA and RPA are subject to the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003 (as amended). If a candidate considers that any information supplied as part of this procurement procedure should not be disclosed because of its commercial sensitivity, confidentiality or otherwise, it must, when providing this information, clearly identify the specific information it does not wish to be disclosed and clearly specify the reasons for its sensitivity. Please note, it is not sufficient to include a statement of confidentiality encompassing all the information provided in the response,

— Any contract award will be subject to the production of a current tax clearance certificate from the Revenue Commissioners in Ireland or, for a non-resident, a statement from the Revenue Commissioners in Ireland confirming suitability on tax grounds. Where a candidate is a consortium, each member may be required to contract on the basis of joint and several liability,

— The services forming the subject of the contract are services within the meaning of Article 32 of Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and, therefore, NTA and RPA are publishing this notice on a voluntary basis,

— NTA reserves the right, during the competition, to change, by means of statutory assignment, the contracting entity that will execute the contract to RPA or to RPA in association with the NTA or, following the competition, to novate the contract to RPA,

— See Information Memorandum and Pre-qualification Questionnaire for further information.