Railway Procurement Agency
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| State Agency of the Department of Transport overview | |
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| Formed | 28 December 2001 |
| Dissolved | 1 August 2015 |
| Jurisdiction | Ireland |
| Headquarters | Parkgate Business Centre, Parkgate Street, Dublin 8 |
| State Agency of the Department of Transport executive |
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| Key document |
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| Website | TII website |
The Railway Procurement Agency (Irish: An Ghníomhaireacht um Fháil Iarnród) was a State agency of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport in the Republic of Ireland, charged with the development of light railway and the future metro infrastructure. It was established on 28 December 2001 under the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001 and dissolved on 1 August 2015 under the terms of the Roads Act 2015, when all of its functions were transferred to the National Roads Authority (NRA). The better to reflect its expanded remit, the NRA has since 1 August 2015 described itself for operational purposes as Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
Many of the staff of the agency came from the Light Rail Project Office of Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), which was dissolved upon the RPA's inception. The agency operated completely independently of CIÉ. This was due to a fear by the government that CIÉ's implementation of new rail projects would be slow and inefficient, as the company is not well regarded by the country's political leadership. The RPA's main role was 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 Government's Capital Investment Plan. The operation of the Luas is contracted out to Transdev, and the RPA were responsible for monitoring their performance.
The agency had no role in the mainline railway system, which is operated by Iarnród Éireann, itself a subsidiary of CIÉ.
The RPA was also charged with developing an integrated ticketing system for all public transport modes in Dublin. This resulted in the introduction of the Leap card on 12 December 2011.
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