A major €170 million investment programme to improve the DART service is to get under way next month. The investment is designed to increase DART peak capacity by 30 per cent by 2005.

Iarnród Éireann is also to invest a further €70 million in resignalling the city centre. This will lead to a further boost in capacity by increasing the maximum number of DART and commuter services through the central area from the current 12 per hour in each direction to 16 per hour.

The investment starting next month - known as the DASH programme - will involve some disruption for customers over the construction period, which will run to mid-2005.

Iarnród Éireann said it would seek to minimise this disruption but it would involve services being suspended on sections of the DART route at weekends. This is intended to avoid disruption to weekday commuters. Full details of these disruptions will be confirmed to commuters in advance, the company says.

The project, an outline of which was announced earlier this year, is the largest investment in Dublin rail services since the DART launch in 1984. It is funded by the Government under the National Development Programme.

It will involve platform extensions, to allow the operation of eight-carriage DART and commuter trains compared with the current six-carriage maximum. New stations are to be built at Bayside and Howth Junction.

The scheme also involves upgrading the power supply, full accessibility at all stations for mobility-impaired customers, and new sidings, storage and station facilities to accommodate larger trains.

This will increase the maximum capacity for customers per hour from 11,800 to 16,000. A separate €80 million investment is being made to purchase 40 DART carriages from Mitsui in Japan.

The company also confirmed yesterday that, following the completion of the first phase investment, a second €70 million phase will involve resignalling the city centre to allow increased train frequency. This will get under way in 2005.