The €1 billion Dart+ West project to extend Dart services to Maynooth in Co Kildare has finally been approved by An Bord Pleanála, two years after Irish Rail sought permission for the project.
Dart+ West is the first phase of Irish Rail’s plans for a major expansion of Dart services, which also includes the electrification of the rail line to Drogheda, Co Louth; Celbridge, Co Kildare; and a significant upgrade in capacity to Greystones.
The board’s decision on the Maynooth line, Irish Rail’s first application for a Railway Order under the Dart+ programme, was made 14 months after its original deadline.
Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny said Irish Rail would now be working with the National Transport Authority towards expediting the procurement and construction elements of Dart+ West as well as preparing the final business case for funding approval.
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Irish Rail was now “aiming for the end of the decade” for the first Dart services to begin operating on the line, he said.
Irish Rail had in July 2022 submitted its application for the electrification of the line to Maynooth and the M3 Parkway, near Dunboyne, Co Meath, and the associated closure of level crossings and construction of new bridges and station infrastructure. Irish Rail had at that time hoped to begin construction in early 2024 with a four-year development programme planned.
The board had been due to issue its decision in March 2023 but instead wrote to Irish Rail to say it would be unable to meet the deadline but intended “to determine this application by before the 15th of December 2023″. The December deadline was also missed and following several more revisions the board has issued its decision this month.
The Maynooth project, first announced 19 years ago, will double train services along the line from six to 12 per hour per direction, increasing hourly passenger capacity from 5,000 to more than 13,000 each way. It will involve the closure of six level crossings from Ashtown in Dublin to Blakestown, west of Leixlip, in Co Kildare.
The full Dart+ programme aims to treble the current network from 53km to 150km and the number of people living within one kilometre of a Dart station would increase from about 250,000 currently to 600,000.
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