Plan to extend Dart to Maynooth gets green light – The Irish Times

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 applied for 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 to Greystones capacity.

The board’s decision on the Maynooth line, Irish Rail’s first application for a rail order under the Dart+ programme, came 14 months after its original deadline.

Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny said Irish Rail would now work with the National Transport Authority to expedite the procurement and construction elements of Dart+ West, as well as prepare the final business case for funding approval.

Irish Rail is now “targeting the end of the decade” for the first Dart services to begin operating on the line, he said.

In July 2022, Irish Rail 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 hoped at that time to commence construction in early 2024 with a four-year development programme planned.

The board was due to issue its decision in March 2023 but instead wrote to Irish Rail to say it would not be able to meet the deadline but intended to “determine this application by 15 December 2023”. The December deadline was also missed and, following further reviews, the board 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 in each 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 County Kildare.

The full Dart+ programme aims to triple the current network from 53km to 150km and the number of people living within one kilometre of a Dart station would increase from the current 250,000 to 600,000.