The frequency of Luas tram services on the Sandyford to St Stephen's Green line is to be increased from every 10 minutes to every five from the beginning of next month, the Minster for Transport, Mr Brennan, has announced.
Last night he said 20,000 paying customers a day used the service in the week ended July 11th. This "exceeded all expectations", he said.
He also said the ticket system on the line would be streamlined before the end of this year with the introduction of a "smart" card which the bearer will touch to a "validator" on the Luas platform when starting and ending each journey.
He said testing on the Tallaght/Connolly Station Luas line, which began yesterday, would continue over the coming weeks. An official start-up date for that line would be agreed when he received a full operational and safety evaluation from those tests, he said.
Mr Brennan was speaking at a ceremony in Dundrum, Co Dublin, last night when the cable-stayed Luas bridge was formally named the William Dargan Bridge after a man regarded as Ireland's greatest railway engineer.
William Dargan, who was born near Killeshin, Co Laois, in 1799, was the engineer on Ireland's first railway from Dublin to Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) in 1833. He was also the engineer for the old Harcourt Street line, which the Sandyford Luas follows for much of its journey, and he designed many of its station houses.The name was chosen by a committee set up by the Rail Procurement Agency. It included the Luas chief architect, Mr Jim Quinlan, historian Mr Briain MacAonghusa and a representative of South Dublin County Council. Adverts were were placed in local media seeking suggestions, and residents' proposals included Dargan, international cyclist Stephen Roche, former local clergyman Canon Harrington and a suggestion from one schoolgirl that the bridge be named "the Suas Luas".
