Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, in Budget 2024, c. €613.463 million of funding was provided for Public Service Obligation (PSO) and Local Link services. The Government is also backing up its commitment to improving public transport with significant infrastructure investments across the network. This includes funding for initiatives such as the DART+ Programme, new DART+ Fleet, the proposed replacement of the current Enterprise fleet, and the introduction of an additional 41 InterCity Railcars.

Modelling undertaken by the National Transport Authority (NTA) for the DART+ Programme related to facilitating increased services on the Rosslare line, and to achieve maximum capacity in the Greater Dublin Area, includes an option that would see Rosslare services interchanging at Wicklow or Greystones to connect seamlessly to DART services into the heart of Dublin. However, it must be stressed that this was an infrastructural modelling exercise, and the NTA have advised that no decision has been made to alter services on the Rosslare line at this time.

The DART+ Programme is designed to deliver infrastructure across the Greater Dublin Area to maximise capacity for rail services on all routes – in short, it will double the capacity and treble the electrified network. Delivering additional frequency on the Rosslare to Dublin line is challenging primarily because of the high frequency DART service from Bray to Dublin. This challenge will increase with improvements in DART frequency from Greystones, which will come about with DART+ Coastal South.

There will ultimately be operational timetabling decisions after DART+ Coastal South is delivered, based on passenger demand. A combination of direct / interchange services will remain options available to the NTA. Any timetabling proposals are subject to public consultation should they at any time be proposed, as is the case with all timetable reviews, and the approval of the NTA. The DART+ Coastal South project will commence public consultation this summer.