Rail link for 100 million passengers

RAIL chiefs have predicted that 100 million passengers would be travelling on the train network when a new underground line through the heart of Dublin opens in 2015.

Iarnrod Éireann said the DART link will be the single most important infrastructure project in the next decade and key to getting people out of their cars and onto public transport.

The line will run from the Docklands on the north side, across the River Liffey to Pearse Street, on to St Stephen’s Green and out to Heuston Station.

“The interconnector rail line, from Docklands to Heuston Station, will complete the quadrupling of the Greater Dublin area’s rail service capacity from 25 million passenger journeys annually now, to a 100 million,” Iarnrod Éireann said in a statement.

It has advertised for specialists to assist in progressing the design, and construction work is due to start on the route in 2009.

Iarnrod Éireann said it will dramatically increase frequency and capacity for commuters on the DART, northern, Maynooth and Kildare lines — which serve the three fastest growing commuter belts in Ireland.