Plans to replace Dublin’s original 41-year-old Dart fleet are to be subject to a third review, the Department of Transport has confirmed.
The original Dart fleet dates from 1984 and comprised 80 German-made carriages, 76 of which remain in service. Safety certification for the original fleet was initially scheduled to expire in 2014 but was extended to July 2024.
Last year it was extended again until the early 2030s, despite Irish Rail acknowledging that the longer the original fleet is kept in use, the more expensive it is to maintain.
Following issues around its reliability and the discovery of some rust holes which had been described as superficial, Irish Rail announced in November 2024 it was seeking approval to take the original fleet out of service and replace it with 100 non-battery, electric-train carriages worth an estimated €250 million.
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Separately, some 68 Japanese-made carriages added to the Dart fleet in 2000 and 2004 are to remain in use.
Irish Rail said its decision to replace the original carriages – which operate between Greystones and Malahide or Howth – was based on the cost required for more frequent heavy maintenance.
In April, the board of the National Transport Authority formally approved the purchase of the replacements , expected to be part of an overall framework agreement with French train-maker Alstom.
However, the Department of Transport said at the time that the National Development Plan (NDP), which covers large-scale State transport investment, was “under review by the Department of Public Expenditure”, effectively making the Dart plan subject to another review.
The NDP was published in June. This week, the department said it was now “reviewing key programmes and projects in the transport sector in the context of that capital funding”, including Dart replacement. A spokeswoman said a decision would be made “in the coming months.”
[ South Dublin’s new Dart station 40 minutes from the city will be a ‘godsend’Opens in new window ]
That position is in contrast to the Dart+ programme to expand the electric train network to Drogheda, Co Louth, as well as Maynooth and Celbridge in Co Kildare, and Greystones, Co Wicklow.
Some of an initial order of 95 carriages capable of running on batteries, as well as overhead wires, started to arrive in Ireland last autumn and are currently being tested around Dublin.
They are to be deployed on the northern commuter line between Dublin and Drogheda. In all, 185 carriages have now been ordered for Dart+.
