Dublin gets first glimpse of new generation trams

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will introduce Ireland to its first light rail tram at a ceremony in Dublin tomorrow - some two years before the system gets up and running.

The tram - a state-of-the-art model light years from the type that once trundled around Dublin - is being launched in Merrion Square, yards from government buildings.

Though parts of the city are already being excavated to make way for the LUAS transport network, causing intense traffic disruption as a result, the trams will not start running until mid-2003 at the earliest, and it will be another two years after that before all the lines are in place.

The scheme, which is being constructed in stages, is costing in excess of £500m but its backers say the eventual result will be the ending of many of the snarl-ups that now congest Dublin on a daily basis as the city attempts to cope with record car numbers.

The first French-manufactured tram has already been unveiled by Public Enterprise Minister Mary O’Rourke at an international transport conference in London’s Earl’s Court earlier this year but now it has arrived in Ireland.

It is one of 40 that have been ordered for the Dublin system, at a total cost of more than£66m. With extensions, the trams have 60 seats and standing accommodation for another 175 passengers.

They are due to reach Dublin at a rate of one a month to undergo testing at the new LUAS depot beside the city’s M50 motorway.

The project has been characterised as reflecting Dublin’s ‘‘cosmopolitan era, its young people, life, business and the hi-tech industry’’.

Official assurances have been given that it will not be affected by the economic downturn experienced since those words were uttered earlier this year.

But the Dublin tram launch - which has necessitated the temporary construction of a short-stretch rail line in Merrion Square - was condemned today as ‘‘yet another public relations stunt’’ by Ireland’s opposition parties.

Fine Gael local government spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell declared: ‘‘This is a public service that will go nowhere for years because of the government’s incompetence in managing the project.

’’It is an insult to public intelligence to stage a photo-call with a LUAS ghost train when traffic congestion is crippling the city and infuriating commuters.’’

Labour’s Eamon Gilmore said: ‘‘This is not so much a photocall as a photostunt. When it’s over, the carriage will be taken away and the hard-pressed commuters of Dublin will not see it again at least not for several years.’’

The new tram will be open to viewing by the public until Tuesday. When it starts carrying passengers from the south-western suburbs to the city centre, it will signal the return of a type of transport that was banished from the streets of Dublin more than 40 years ago.