Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree that it is an urgent matter. We are sometimes victims of our own success. The upsurge in commuters in the Dublin area has put a lot of pressure on rail services and public transport in general. In some ways, this is wonderful but in other ways it creates difficulties. Funding of €230 million over the period from 2018 to 2021 has been allocated to mainline rail projects. Further investment includes the Dublin city centre resignalling project to improve speeds through the city centre and the new central traffic control centre, which will enable the DART expansion programme to progress, as well as generally improving national rail movements. The benefits are not just combined to the Dublin area. These investments will be of benefit across the rail network nationally.

As I stated, additional funding will also increase the rail fleet and allow further progress to be made on the electrification of the northern rail line to Balbriggan, which is now expected to be delivered in 2022. We will also commence work on the Maynooth line, which is part of the Dublin to Sligo line.

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