DART+ (DART Expansion)

I wonder if Dart SW is being delayed because enough new trains won't be ready to serve the line?

In absence of full electrification, could they still increase capacity using Maynooth commuter trains?

Or is the 3 line section into Heuston at capacity?

And can we please leave WRC out of this thread? I'm tempted to respond to some comments above, but it's just the same old arguments.

I would have thought the Dart+ SW project with four tracking, Kylemore, Heuston West and Cabra stations would have been the most beneficial to the whole Dublin and National system added ideally with Kilcock/Maynooth -Hazelhatch/Adamstown link(for hourly services Sligo line into Heuston), would make Dart + West possibly cheaper then later. Mainly i'm saying would be best use of funds.

Will the DART+ West construction proceed without the Depot, or is the entire DART+ scheme going to be held hostage to it?

Separately, why is the replenishment of stock being held up because of issues with the custom, IE, experimental battery trains? Surely the orders for the normal conventional electric units can proceed. We desperately need them.

It's the lack of urgency to all of this that's most dispiriting.

Without a depot, where are they going to put the trains? Irish Rail already losing another yard for storing trains next year

It's not as simple as just ordering "normal conventional electric units". Issues with the trains aren't just related to the batteries.

Fair point on the Depot, though many of those trains are to replace ageing DART units in any case. What's the situation there?

What doesn't make sense is why the preparatory work DART+ SW has been tendered out if there's no intention to think about building it until "2030+". Probably an observation more appropriate to the NDP thread, but all in all the NDP is incoherent. Re-reading Darragh O'Brien's comments, they're just bizarre.

The NDP is meant to give certainty to funding and timelines, yet we have O'Brien saying it's "flexible" and the DART+ project "could" begin "next year". It's meant to ensure a continuous stream of projects yet everything is backloaded, with shovel ready, quick win projects like Luas Finglas delayed and priority given to advancing road schemes which aren't near construction. All the hallmarks of an Irish Government, as usual, not committed to delivering any of it. His defeatist language on Metrolink gives the game away, though at least some of the media are covering how ridiculous the situation on all of this has become.

Back on DART+, given how integral the Depot component is to the entire DART+ scheme, to the point where it seems nothing else can be realistically advanced without it, you would've thought IE would be racing to get it re-submitted. It's hard to believe, but we're nearly 17 months on from the planning refusal and still, nothing.

A tender for surveys on a site west of kilcock will be out in Q1

A tender for surveys in Q1 2026 means actual surveys complete maybe in Q1 2027, so maybe a planning application in 2028, so maybe construction starts in 2029. But probably later.

I expect irish rail will use their framework or suppliers which is quicker than an open tender

https://www.rte.ie/news/leinster/2025/1203/1546992-rosslare-europort-development-project/

When Irish Rail really want to do things they can do it quickly it seems.

For Dart+ SW, it's never too soon to provide capacity and resilience in a rail system. Build the tracks, stations, and enable for the fleet and electrification. The infrastructure deficit in the system is too wide to be waiting for the perfect synergy. Waiting costs money.