{"id":318316,"date":"2026-02-26T13:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/318316\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:05:08","slug":"transdev-loses-e1-75bn-luas-contract-after-running-dublin-tram-service-for-22-years-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/318316\/","title":{"rendered":"Transdev loses \u20ac1.75bn Luas contract after running Dublin tram service for 22 years \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luas<\/a> operator Transdev<\/a> has lost out on the \u20ac1.75 billion Luas contract after 22 years of running the service, branding it \u201cvery disappointing news\u201d to staff.<\/p>\n

Sources have told The Irish Times that a British-French joint venture between Amey and Keolis has been selected as the preferred bidder and is set to take over the operation of the contract later this year.<\/p>\n

The pair have run the Docklands Light Railway in London since 2014 as part of a separate joint venture led out by the French company. They were recently awarded a new eight-year contract for the service. They also run Manchester\u2019s Metrolink light rail network.<\/p>\n

State agency Transport Infrastructure Ireland<\/a> (TII) began to seek a new operator for the contract in 2023 to operate and maintain the Luas service.<\/p>\n

The deal will run from the second or third quarter of 2026 for an initial seven years with an option to renew for five to seven more years. The work will involve operating the system, on which locals and visitors completed 54 million journeys in 2024 on the green and red lines.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Pretax losses at Luas operator Transdev reduce by 61%Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Its \u20ac1.75 billion price tag covers the cost of all those elements, including rolling stock overhauls, expensive work that must be done every four years.<\/p>\n

Transdev declined to comment when contacted. <\/p>\n

However, the French company notified staff that it had not been selected as the preferred bidder for the contract in an email on Thursday morning. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is clearly very disappointing news for our company,\u201d Transdev told staff. \u201cWe are proud of the service we provide every day and of the role our teams have played in operating and developing Luas over more than two decades, maintaining a strong safety record and supporting the growth of the Luas light rail network across Dublin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff were told that the process now enters a 14-day mandatory standstill period in line with public procurement rules, during which bidders can review the decision. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will carefully consider the outcome and assess our position over the coming days,\u201d Transdev said. \u201cFor now, nothing changes in our day-to-day operation. Our priority remains delivering a safe, reliable and high-quality service for passengers and communities across Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will communicate again once the standstill period has concluded and we are in a position to outline next steps and what this means for the company and for employees,\u201d staff were told.<\/p>\n

It is understood staff at the company will transfer to the new operator.<\/p>\n

Among the other bidders was a joint venture between two infrastructure giants, Italy\u2019s Azienda Trasporti Milanesi and French-listed Alstom.<\/p>\n

TII declined to comment. The NTA, Amey and Keolis have been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luas operator Transdev has lost out on the \u20ac1.75 billion Luas contract after 22 years of running the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,14350,7942,43,40,38,41,39,29094],"class_list":{"0":"post-318316","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-luas","10":"tag-national-transport-authority","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories","16":"tag-transport-infrastructure-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}