Iarnród Éireann signs deal for 90 more carriages

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”.

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“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.