A Galway Luas service could solve the city’s chronic traffic issues – but unless we act now, it will take decades to materialise.

A new National Transport Authority (NTA) study has estimated that the cost of the ‘Gluas’ could reach around €1.2 billion.

Under the ambitious plan, the city would get several light rail routes running from the east to the west.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Trinity College Dublin Professor of Engineering Brian Caulfield said the report shows the Gluas would take “10% of cars off the road”.

“On the face of it, it's definitely a very positive project,” he said, “It's feasibility study.

“The people of Lucan would have had a feasibility study about 20 years ago as well, and there's nobody from Lucan getting the Luas into Dublin City this morning.”

Feasibility

Professor Caulfield said that, unless we start to see “finances put behind” the Gluas project, it is all ‘pie in the sky’.

“The end of the report, says, yes, it could be feasible - perhaps in the early 2040s it would be feasible,” he said.

“However, if the city were to put a lot of dense housing around the Luas, the kind of thing we should be doing, it would become more feasible in the shorter term.

"Full cost benefit analysis"

Professor Caulfield said now is the time to start this project, warning that if we don’t, we could see the price become “multiples” of the €1.2bn estimated cost.

He said government must now carry out a “full cost benefit analysis” of the project.

“Also, we have to remember, in the city, there's still a large faction of people that want to build that outer motorway, and they see that as the solution,” he said.

“A full study is being done by the NTA for the city, looking at both the light rail and this new piece of road infrastructure.”

Table forecasting demand of GLUAS with other light rail systems in the Ireland and the UK. Image: National Transport Authority

Professor Caulfield said the population density of Galway might not warrant this kind of infrastructure “at the moment” but it’s “better to build now” for the population that will be there in the future.

“The report does have a nice table in it where it looks at other cities across the UK – Edinburgh and in the West Midlands - and it shows that the passenger numbers that they get, the Luas in Galway could also get,” he said.

“We saw as soon as the Luas was put into Dublin, the success that it brought and the density that happened with it, and perhaps in hindsight, we would have built something bigger - but hindsight is a great thing.”

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Main image: Luas trams. Image: Emma Tyrrell Newstalk