More than €150m has been spent on Dart upgrade ahead of work starting

The Dart system is currently undergoing a number of extensions. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews.ie

More than €150m has been spent on the upgrading of Dublin's rail network before work has commenced.

The Dart system is currently undergoing a number of extensions, with the first, Dart+ West, along the Maynooth line and the second, Dart+ Southwest, towards Adamstown. 

Dart+ West is designed to double train services along the Maynooth line from six to 12 per hour per direction, increasing hourly passenger capacity from 5,000 to more than 13,000 each way.

The Southwest project will see the current 12 trains per hour per direction increase to 23 trains per hour per direction.

It will bring peak capacity from approximately 5,000 passengers per hour per direction to approximately 20,000 passengers per hour per direction.

Work is also progressing on two expansions of the coastal route of the Dart, both north and south.

A railway order was granted by An Bord Pleanála in July 2024 for the West project, though a judicial review has been sought by two businesses along the line, with a hearing due for June. 

A railway order for the southwest route was awarded last November and will extend the electrified Dart network from Hazelhatch and Celbridge to Heuston Station and the South city, via the Phoenix Park Tunnel. 

The application for the coastal route was made last year, seeking to enhance train services between Drogheda in the north to Greystones in the south. 

West project likely to begin in 2026

A briefing note for transport minister Darragh O'Brien said that the west project will begin construction in 2026 "pending outcome of planning consideration and legal challenges" while the southwest project is "TBC".

Despite no substantive physical work having yet taken place, figures supplied to the Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly show that over €153m has been spent on the projects.

These fall under a number of categories: advisory, consulting and engineering design services, legal services, public consultations and communication initiatives, as well as advertising and media.

The figures show that the largest spends came on engineering design services — €28.5m for the West route, around €19.2m for Southwest, and €20.9m for the coastal project.

Over €650,000 was spent developing the business case for the project, with €5.5m on legal services and over €900,000 on risk management.

Some €17,000 was spent on "train specification modelling" with €350,000 spent on web hosting and licenses.

In the briefing note for Mr O'Brien, officials said that the expansion "will increase the network from circa 50km to 150km and double city centre capacity from 26,000 passengers per hour per direction to 52,000 during peak hours" and will "create a connected and electrified rail network for the Greater Dublin Area".

Fleet of new trains

The project also includes the purchase of a fleet of new trains.

Two fleet orders have been placed for largely battery-electric trains, the first of which have now arrived in Ireland.

The departmental note says that safety testing will take place throughout 2025 and deployment of these battery-electric trains is expected in 2026 on the Northern Commuter Line serving Drogheda.

The briefing document raised questions about funding of transport projects, with analysis from the National Transport Authority showing that tender costs are up by 30% since 2021, when the National Development Plan was published.

It adds that funding deficits are “particularly acute” for public transport projects between 2026 and 2030 due to major projects like Metrolink and Dart+ entering construction.