Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is aware that despite his prognosis and prophesies of doom passenger journeys on Irish Rail increased by 6% in 2017. The DART and commuter rail services, to which he referred, carried almost 33 million passengers in the Dublin region in 2017, which is also an increase of 6%. It is booming.

In answer to the Deputy's question about procurement, the procurement process for additional DART fleet is expected to commence this year, with a contract for approximately 300 new rail carriages expected to be awarded in the second half of 2019. Some 28 refurbished carriages are to re-enter service in 2019. This will add capacity to a number of services. Iarnród Éireann and the NTA are currently assessing the availability of additional fleet that could be introduced to passenger services on the rail network across Ireland in the short term. The Deputy need not tell me that these agencies are not considering these issues. We will have 300 carriages and we have 28 carriages being refurbished.

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