Luas records surplus of €200,000

THE Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) has announced that Dublin’s Luas light-rail service recorded a surplus of €200,000 for 2005, its first full year of operation.

The surplus was recorded a year ahead of initial projections and means that the €2.5 million budgeted by the Department of Transport for the service to meet an anticipated first year deficit will not be needed.

“Luas has now joined a very small group of public transport systems worldwide that don’t rely on subsidies to operate and it’s the only such system in Ireland,” said chairman of the RPA Padraic A White at the launch of its annual report yesterday.