Iarnród Éireann and Alstom have agreed a deal for 90 more battery-electric carriages at a projected cost of €179 million.
The deal will allow the rail company to “deliver more capacity and decarbonisation benefits in advance of electrification of the extended Dart+ network,” Iarnród Éireann said in a statement.
The new deal means Iarnród Éireann has ordered 185 carriages from Alstom in the last year.
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The company said the new carriages “will significantly enhance Ireland’s rail transport capacity, particularly to the expanding Dart system in the Greater Dublin Area and eastern region”.
“The carriages will facilitate the wider Dart+ programme which is expanding the existing Dart service from Dublin city centre to Drogheda to the north, Maynooth/M3 Parkway to the west, Celbridge/Hazelhatch to the southwest. The Dart+ programme will dramatically increase the number of people that can avail of a frequent, high-capacity rail service, increasing the number of people living within 1km of a Dart station from circa 250,000 at present to 600,000 in future,” the group added.
The carriages could also be used between Greystones and Wicklow and/or for Cork Area Commuter Rail, serving communities between Mallow, Cork, Cobh and Midleton, subject to available funding for necessary infrastructure.
