Irish Rail has announced plans to expand the city’s DART service, aiming to bring sustainable, more frequent and higher capacity services to Dublin’s rail service.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) has published details of a €2.6 billion extension of the city’s DART services. Titled DART+, the project which was first announced 15 years ago, plans to extend services from Dublin to Drogheda, Celbridge and Maynooth – also aiming to double peak-hour capacity from 26,000 to over 52,000 an hour per direction by the year 2028.
According to the NTA, the proposals would help to create a “full metropolitan area DART network for Dublin”. Involving five main elements, the project will see the electrification of services on the three commuter lines, along with the purchase of new Dart trains, and the upgrade of the existing southern line to Greystones.
Under the plans, the Maynooth line will be the first of the three lines to be upgraded with Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan opening public consultation on the route today.
Construction is due to begin in 2022, with hopes that the project will be fully finished within two years.
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