Govt prepared to subsidise LUAS system

The Government is reportedly prepared to subsidise the LUAS light rail system in Dublin if it fails to attract enough passengers to make the service viable.

Between 20 and 22 million passengers are expected to use the system in its first year of operation and reports this morning said the Rail Procurement Agency’s projections saw it operating without a subsidy.

However, the reports said the Department of Transport had also accepted that it would have to intervene if passenger numbers fell short of predictions.

A spokesman for the department has reportedly described such a scenario as a “doomsday situation”.