Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Paschal Donohoe today welcomed "an important step" in the Luas Cross City project with the ordering of seven new trams.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland has ordered seven Citadis trams from the company Alstrom Transport SA.

Placing the order for additional trams at a cost of €36.5m excluding VAT, will ensure their delivery in advance of the green line extension coming into operation at the end of 2017.

The new trams will be the same type currently being used on the green line but with an additional two modules per tram. This will make them nine-module trams.

That will be a total length of 54.6m, isan increase on the current 43m trams. Each new tram will be capable of accommodating 379 passengers, 60 more than the existing green line vehicles.

Speaking in Dublin today, Mr Donohoe said: "Placing the order for the new trams today is another important step in this project.

"The new trams will carry more people and allow the Luas Cross City extension to provide a frequent, efficient and integrated transport option for the city centre and all the way through Broadstone and out to Cabra," he added.

Anne Graham, National Transport Authority CEO, said: "All around the city centre, tracks are being laid, each month is bringing this project closer to completion.

"Having new trams in operation from the very start of the new extension being opened is critical to ensure LCC is a success and fully operational from day one at the end of 2017," she said.

Micheal Nolan, Transport Infrastructure Ireland CEO added: "As the agency responsible for the delivery of such an important city-centre transport project each landmark such as today is significant and shows the real and visible progress of the project."

Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr Donohoe said that the rail procurement agency and retailers have put together a good plan to manage any disruption caused during the building.

The minister said the M50 is fit for purpose, at the moment, but that an incident of a serious nature on the motorway can have an extensive regional impact.

He said the Government is working on additional plans to help manage future incidents on the road, when work is being carried out to alleviate the disruption.