Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I said, the fleet manufacturing contract will be awarded in the second quarter of next year. The Deputy fully realises there is obviously a time lag between ordering and delivery and he could not expect anything else. In the longer term, we are also committed to funding a new national train control centre and I expect to shortly seek Government approval for that project in line with the requirements of the public spending code. There are also significant other investments. I can assure the Deputy the issue of value for money is equally important. Ultimately, we need to increase the size of the rail fleet, expand the capacity of the network and continually look to improve services. I am making funding available to achieve exactly that. The Deputy knows, and I have said to him many times before, an additional 300 carriages will be added to the fleet in the longer term, all of which will be bi-mode. A formal procurement notice should issue on this by the end of the year, with a contract to be signed next year.

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