Rail Network
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Colm Brophy (FG), Dublin South-West

I thank Deputy Byrne, on behalf of the Minister for Transport, for the opportunity to address this issue in the House today. Improving public transport services and infrastructure is central to improving citizens' quality of life and addressing our climate action challenge, and this Government is committed to a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland. In relation to the Deputy’s query on enhancing capacity on the network, in particularly in relation to improvements to capacity to the south of Wicklow town, I note that Iarnród Eireann’s rolling stock is currently fully deployed in service across the network. Notwithstanding this, I am pleased to note that as part of the DART+ programme, three orders delivering a total of 285 new carriages have been placed so far. When the first and second orders start entering service in 2027 and 2028, respectively, this will allow the redeployment of existing Intercity and commuter trains to other parts of the rail network experiencing capacity issues, including potentially on the Rosslare line. As this fleet enters operation, DART services will also be extended south of Wicklow town, a development which is targeted for 2029. The redeployment of rolling stock is an operational matter for Iarnród Eireann and the National Transport Authority, NTA, which will be decided on following the entry into service of the new DART fleet.
The all-island strategic rail review, which was published in July 2024, also considered the issue of enhancing services on the Rosslare line. The review considered options to enable faster and more frequent journeys between Rosslare Europort and Dublin, including adding passing loops, tunnelling through Bray Head, developing a new railway along the M11 corridor, and developing a new line for DART services along the N11 corridor. Many of these solutions would be very costly and the review concluded that they would not be justifiable on socioeconomic or cost-benefit grounds, as the east coast rail line would not be expected to support more than one or two trains per hour in each direction. The review proposes that the best way forward for boosting connectivity in the south east in the shorter term is to introduce an hourly shuttle service between Wexford and Greystones, meeting seamlessly with DART services, bringing passengers into and out of the centre of Dublin city. This would be an operational decision and would need to be put in place following infrastructure upgrades planned under the DART+ programme.
On behalf of the Minister for Transport, I again thank the Deputy for raising this important matter.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24