Railway Procurement Agency (Irish: An Ghníomhaireacht um Fháil Iarnród) is a State Agency of the Department of Transport in the Republic of Ireland charged with the development of light railway and metro infrastructure. It was established in December 2001 under the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001.
Many of the staff of the agency came from the Light Rail Project Office of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), which dissolved upon the RPA's inception. The agency operates completely independently of CIÉ.
The RPA's main role is overseeing the operation of the Luas system, along with the planning of new Luas and Metro lines for Dublin as laid out under the Irish Governments Transport 21 investment programme. The operation of the Luas is contracted out to Veolia, and the RPA are responsible for monitoring their performance.
The agency has no role in the mainline railway system, which is operated by Iarnród Éireann (a subsidiary of CIÉ).
The RPA are also in charge of developing an integrated ticketing system for all public transport modes in Dublin. This is currently due to commence trials in late 2011.
Read more about Railway Procurement Agency: Transport 21 Initiatives
Famous quotes containing the words railway and/or agency:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“It is possible that the telephone has been responsible for more business inefficiency than any other agency except laudanum.... In the old days when you wanted to get in touch with a man you wrote a note, sprinkled it with sand, and gave it to a man on horseback. It probably was delivered within half an hour, depending on how big a lunch the horse had had. But in these busy days of rush-rush-rush, it is sometimes a week before you can catch your man on the telephone.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)