Sligo could become the State's first town with a modern tram system if an ambitious plan to help solve its traffic problems in an environmentally friendly way comes to fruition.
A consortium of local business people has got the backing of Sligo Corporation to explore the option of running trams powered by electric turbines on the River Garavogue. EU funding has been secured for a feasibility study.
The study, expected to be completed by October, will be carried out by a group of local and international experts including the English designer of the tram and a German cycling group.
Plans have already been developed by Mr Wilhelm Bodewigs, a local environmentalist and member of the Town Centre Partnership of business people.
It involves a 7.5 km-long light tram system running from Carraroe in the south to the train station, and then on to the main Bundoran road via Wine Street.
Mr Bodewigs said the entire capital cost would be £6.2 million; this would include eight trams and building a light rail bridge over an existing road.
He said that car-parks would also be built at either end of the line. That would mean 1,000 fewer cars entering the town centre every day. Buses and cycle lanes would connect with the tram and part of the project would also encourage the use of battery-powered bikes, which could be recharged at various points along the tram line.
Mr John Parry, whose West Midlands-based company has designed the trams, said they could run at a cost of 5p per mile, and were ideal for town centres because they could run in pedestrianised areas. There was no tail pipe diesel exhaust and they caused less noise than either buses or trains.