Luas will succeed where other trams in Britain have failed because of key differences, says Frank Allen, chief executive of the RPA, reports Tim O'Brien.
There was bad news for builders of tram systems worldwide recently with the report of Britain's National Audit Office. The Office essentially found many of the British trams developed in recent years were struggling, and had underestimated passenger numbers by up to 45 per cent.
However, Frank Allen the chief executive of the Railway Procurement Agency was not upset by the news. "New trams in France, Germany and Spain have not suffered the same problems as did some - not all - of the trams in Britain.
"We were told very early on by the French, for example, that if you don't separate your traffic, give your tram its own road space you would be better off to save your money."
Apart from the road separation which is crucial, Mr Allen identifies park and ride facilities; the integration of the system with other forms of public transport and transport hubs; the availability of good passenger information and a high population density which are key ingredients in the mix.
In each of the tram services which failed to meet expectations one or more of these ingredients were missing he insists.
So what will make Luas wonderful? "We will do better. In Britain there was no park and ride sites to begin with," he asserts. When it is pointed out that the RPA is planning to charge for its park and ride facilities, he is quick to defend the charges, saying they are essential to reserve the car parks for genuine Luas users. And he adds that while installing park and ride sites was deemed essential to remedy the situation in Britain, most of them - he can think of only one exception - are now charging for parking.
Mr Allen describes it as a great pity that both Luas lines in Dublin are not connected, but rejects the description that they are not "integrated".
The Tallaght line, he points out serves two hospitals, Tallaght and James's Street. St James's Hospital has 12 million visitors between patients and staff annually, he interjects, and Tallaght is an area where there is a high dependency on public transport. The line will also link Connolly and Heuston stations by passenger rail through the city centre for the first time. It also serves Kingswood, a suburb which, he is quick to point out, is the size of Tralee, giving it direct access to the city centre.
It is, he claims very "regrettable" that the two lines are not connected and he regrets the former Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald's now famous early morning measurement of the Nassau and Dawson Street corner which led to Dr FitzGerald's conclusion that Luas should not be made to negotiate the city centre.
It was simply "wrong" to insist that the tram would not get through the city centre, he says.
While he has no appetite for a political row, he has told Dr Fitzgerald that the doctor is entitled to his opinions on better or alternative routes for Luas - but he was wrong in relation to the city centre: "On the matter of whether the tram can negotiate the corner that is not a matter of opinion it is a matter of geometry and on geometry Garret Fitzgerald was wrong."
Good information for passengers on how the Luas will integrate with Dublin Bus and Dart services as well as real-time information displays on when the next tram is due are also important in developing a reliable service, otherwise passengers will turn off. While much of this is in place he believes that more information, more integration of services is possible and the Luas team will work this out with Connex.
So are there any concerns at all? "I am concerned that we are dependent on motorists not driving on yellow boxes, not crashing lights. We are dependent on Garda enforcement and I know that when the quality bus corridor was introduced there was a period when people weren't too observant but it has improved enormously. We are dependent on other road users obeying the law," he concludes.