Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

There has been significant investment in infrastructure and services on the DART network and on the Dublin to Rosslare inter-city railway route serving Greystones in recent years. Notably, Greystones has benefited from expansion in the DART fleet, with the number of carriages almost doubling from 80 to 154 since the year 2000. In conjunction with the €176 million DART upgrade project, which delivered longer platforms and station improvements to cater for eight-carriage trains, major peak time capacity benefits have resulted.

Improvements have also been delivered on the Arklow commuter service serving Greystones and now extended to Gorey. The Dublin to Rosslare line track renewal was completed in 2004, with almost 80 miles of track upgraded from old jointed track on timber sleepers to modern continuous welded rail on concrete sleepers, yielding safety and journey time benefits. Combined with the introduction of new commuter railcars in 2003, these investments have resulted in higher capacity and reliability improvements on the route.

I understand from Iarnród Éireann that since December 2005 the number of daily services to and from Greystones has increased from 55 to 58 services. As part of the planning process for next December's timetable, Iarnród Éireann is considering improvements to the morning peak service from Greystones and also providing some additional off-peak services.

Further safety and efficiency benefits to inter-city services serving Greystones will be delivered through a €15.8 million resignalling project which is under way. However, the benefits of all investments to date will culminate and be apparent to passengers with the deployment of some of the 150 inter-city railcars on the route during 2007 and 2008. These will deliver the highest standards of quality, comfort and reliability and will also allow Iarnród Éireann to make further frequency increases on the route.

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