Rail Network
Seanad Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Thomas Byrne (FF), Meath East

In the opening statement, I outlined a lot of the progress that is happening. I might mention the fleet situation now. Regarding the roll-out of the new DART+ fleet, this has started to undergo safety testing. That will progress from 2027 onwards and will allow what is described as a cascade of existing trains to serve new areas of the Irish Rail network. Three fleet orders have been placed for both battery-electric carriages, which obviously do not need the overhead wires, and electric carriages. Trains from the first order of 95 carriages will initially be deployed on the northern line which serves my constituency including Gormanston, Laytown and Drogheda. They will come on stream from next year. It is planned to deploy some of the second order of 90 carriages to allow commencement of the Wicklow DART extension around 2029. In December 2025, the Department funded a third fleet order for another 100 electric DART carriages. That will fully replace the original DART fleet. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, got good coverage when he announced that and the public saw it. It is planned to deploy this order of 100 electric carriages from the end of 2028. Deployment of the first and second order will then free up the intercity and commuter trains for use on other train routes providing a capacity boost. The redeployment will be a matter for Iarnród Éireann and the NTA to decide based on all the factors. Of course, that means there is potential for train carriages to be deployed on the DART+ South West line to add capacity in conjunction with the work that will be under way on the infrastructure upgrade.
I already mentioned the Cabra station project, which is working its way towards planning approval. I emphasise the work that is going on at EU level and departmental level in terms of further sources of funding as these planning approvals start to happen.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29