All but a handful of trains in the North are to be replaced as part of a £105 million sterling investment programme announced by the transport company, Translink.
The company is to spend £70 million over the next three years replacing all Northern Ireland Railways rolling stock, except the Enterprise trains it shares with Iarnrod Eireann, and renewing lines from Belfast to Bangor, Co Down, and Larne, Co Antrim.
The Regional Development Minister, Mr Gregory Campbell, welcomed the plan and said he saw it as the first stage in the revitalising of the railways over the next 10 years.
Only the first £20 million funding tranche has been approved. The remainder of the proposed £105 million will have to be approved by the Assembly in the second and third years of the investment programme.