Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Iarnród Éireann, supported by the NTA, is at an advanced stage in the tender process to order the largest and greenest fleet in Irish public transport history, for up to 750 electric and battery-electric powered carriages over a ten-year timescale. As well as increasing the Dublin area capacity, it will also see intercity carriages in use on commuter services allocated to intercity routes to increase capacity and frequency of services.

With regard to the possibility of increasing the DART frequency on the Dublin to Rosslare route, between Bray and Greystones, there is an issue with physical infrastructure constraints. The railway between Bray and Greystones is single track, which means only one service can operate between Bray and Greystones at any given time. Journey time between the two takes ten minutes each way, and both of these factors dictate the level of frequency which can be achieved. The DART+ coastal project is in the design and planning phase. One of its key goals is to identify opportunities for capacity enhancement between Bray and Greystones. Public consultation will be under way on those emerging options.

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