Luas operator Transdev has lost out on the €1.75 billion contract after 22 years of running the service, branding it “very disappointing news” to staff.
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.
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’s metrolink light rail network.
State agency Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) began to seek a new operator for the contract in 2023 to operate and maintain the Luas service.
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The deal will run from the end 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.
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Its €1.75 billion price tag covers the cost of all those elements, including rolling stock overhauls, expensive work that must be done every four years.
Transdev declined to comment when contacted.
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.
“This is clearly very disappointing news for our company,” Transdev told staff.
“We 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.”
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.
“We will carefully consider the outcome and assess our position over the coming days,” Transdev said. “For 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.
“We 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,” staff were told.
It is understood employees will transfer to the new operator.
Trade union Siptu was notified that Transdev had not retained the contract on Thursday morning, it said.
Siptu transport sector organiser John Murphy said there was a “level of uncertainty” for staff, but that the union expected the incoming contractors to honour staff’s existing terms and contracts.
The union said it would engage with the new operators in the coming months before the transfer of operations on September 1st.
Staff at the company are said to be surprised at the news, with a level of expectation that Transdev would retain the contract.
Among the other bidders was a joint venture between two infrastructure giants, Italy’s Azienda Trasporti Milanesi and French-listed Alstom.
TII and Amey declined to comment. Keolis said it would not comment while the procurement process was ongoing. The National Transport Authority did not respond to a request for comment.
