Dublin's Sandyford and Tallaght Luas lines will "at least break even", the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) maintained yesterday.
The RPA was commenting after a high-level report from the British National Audit Office found passenger numbers on new tram lines were up to 45 per cent below expected levels, plunging the systems into immediate financial crisis and sharply reducing private-sector investment.
The outline business case for the two initial Luas lines envisages 20 million passenger journeys a year, which would raise €20 million, or exactly the amount the RPA has said it is to pay Connex to operate the system.
Any reduction in projected passenger numbers would therefore leave a shortfall.
The British Government National Audit Office report released this morning found passenger numbers on the Sheffield Supertram were 45 per cent below expectation and the Midland Metro was 38 per cent below.
The Midland Metro, Manchester Metrolink, Croydon Tramlink and Tyne and Wear Metro were all running at a loss, with Midland Metro losing £11.4 million a year.
These losses were discouraging the private sector from investing in new lines. According to the auditor's office report, the Sheffield Supertram, which was expected to raise £80 million, had only raised £1 million in private funding.
The audit report concluded that if the private sector is to be attracted, "investment and construction costs must be brought down and operations placed on a sound financial footing."
However, despite the experience in Britain, a spokesman for the RPA yesterday maintained that the Luas and Metro projections were "soundly based".
Mr Ger Hannon told The Irish Times that passenger modelling had been carried out to the highest international standards.
