Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about rail. Improvements were made to peak-time services last year and to off peak-time services, to which the Deputy alluded, this year. There are two fundamental constraints. One is the need to physically expand the fleet through the purchase of additional carriages, while the second is the need to improve the overall management of the network. We are moving on both those issues very quickly. On the fleet, I brought a memorandum to Government on the business case for the purchase of 41 additional intercity railcars, which it approved a couple of weeks ago.

It is expected that the new fleet will be delivered by 2021.

Separately, in May, the NTA and Iarnród Éireann commenced a ten-year procurement framework for electric and battery electric units, which will massively expand the fleet. That expansion will include the northern line to which the Deputy refers. In the summer, the Government approved the development of a new national train control centre and contracts for this are expected to be awarded before the end of this year. In the medium and longer term, there is ongoing development of BusConnects, the DART expansion and MetroLink, each of which will increase capacity dramatically.

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