Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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321. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans including a timeline for delivery of the DART+ coastal north to Drogheda, County Louth in the context of the recently published National Development Plan; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that planning permissions have been granted by the planning authorities along the northern commuter line on the basis that this will delivered by 2027; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50535/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I can assure the Deputy that Northern Line commuters will see enhanced services and capacity rolled out in the coming years through utilisation of some of the additional 41 rail carriages currently under construction, the deployment of new battery-electric fleet under DART+ Fleet and ultimately a move toward a fully electrified network as part of DART+ Coastal North.

As the Deputy will be aware, there is currently an order for 41 additional ‘ICR’ carriages under construction and scheduled for delivery from summer 2022, with service entry expected in 2023. These additional carriages will benefit the Greater Dublin Area commuter rail network, including passengers on the Northern Line, through adding capacity to existing services as well as adding additional service(s) as appropriate.

The medium-and longer-term improvements for the Northern Line will be considered as part of the DART+ Programme which comprises five different, but complementary, projects of which DART+ Coastal North is one.  The other four projects are :

- DART+ West;

- DART+ South West;

- DART+ Coastal South; and

- DART+ Fleet.

Naturally there is a sequencing to the delivery of these different projects as each sits within the overall programme framework and it is also the case that the success of some of the projects depends on the early delivery of other projects.

My Department, and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, are currently reviewing the DART+ Preliminary Business Case and I expect to bring that to Government before the end of the year for relevant Decision Gate approvals as required by the Public Spending Code. Of the five projects, DART+ West and DART+ Fleet are the most advanced and Government approval will allow DART+ West enter the statutory planning system and also allow a contract to be signed in relation to DART + Fleet with the first of that fleet expected to arrive within 4 years from contract signing.

The initial DART+ Fleet order includes provision for battery-electric fleet which will be used on the Northern Line in advance of the electrification of the network under the DART+ Coastal North project. Design consultants have been appointed to the project and next year will see the start of the non-statutory public consultation process in relation to the project, as has been happening this year with DART+ West and DART+ South West.

As can be seen, the Northern Line will see significant capacity and service improvements in the short, medium and longer term and I look forward to working with him as we roll-out these improvements in the coming years.