€170m to be invested in rail services for Dublin area

The largest investment in rail services in the Dublin area since the DART launch in 1984 was announced by Iarnród Éireann yesterday - but the company immediately admitted it will still not keep pace with burgeoning demand.

Iarnród Éireann's €170 million investment includes the extension of 45 platforms at 23 stations to increase suburban DART and diesel trains from six carriages to eight. Two stations, Bayside and Howth Junction are to be completely rebuilt, and footbridges are to be replaced with capacity enhanced, wheelchair accessible bridges.

It will see the capacity of the commuter services in Dublin rise from 11,800 to 16,000 per hour, an increase of about 30 per cent.

The improvements are phase one of efforts to increase capacity in the face of continued growth in demand - christened "Dash" by Iarnród Éireann.

Phase two of "Dash" which was initially to be incorporated in phase one involved the resignalling of the central corridor between Connolly and Barrow Street stations which would allow for an increase from 12 to about 16 trains per hour. Phase two will not now get underway until about 2005.

Announcing the investment in phase one yesterday Iarnród Éireann said the work would allow the mobility impaired access to some of the DART stations which are currently inaccessible. These stations include Booterstown and Blackrock while stations at level crossings will be upgraded to allow entrance to all platforms.

The service will also be improved by a separate investment of €80 million in 40 new DART carriages which will enter service in 2005. Some 38 new DART carriages have been introduced in the last 30 months and the commuter railcar fleet has increased from 17 carriages to 64, providing additional capacity on the Maynooth, Drogheda and Kildare lines.

However, company personnel yesterday acknowledged that the capacity enhancements will not keep pace with demand over the coming years. While figures were not immediately available, Mr Michael Murphy, manager of suburban rail, said the rapid expansion of Dublin was forcing the company to maximise the capacity of the network in an attempt to keep pace with growth. A record 24.3 million passenger journeys were made last year on DART and suburban lines and further record growth was forecast.

Mr Murphy said the enhancements would assist the northern and Maynooth lines while the Greystones DART and Arklow suburban services were constrained by a number of factors. The company is aware through its work with local authority development boards that towns such as Wicklow and Arklow have been designated Primary and Secondary growth centres in planning guidelines, but he said the current "Dash" improvements did not address this development.