MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT Eamon Ryan has toured a life-size sample prototype of a new DART+ carriage located at Inchicore Works where it will be inspected by customer focus groups who will offer final suggestions on the design.
In total, 185 new carriages have been ordered to date, with delivery commencing in 2024 and entering service from 2025.
Up to 750 carriages will be ordered over the next decade under a framework contract with manufacturer Alstom, who also supplied Dublin’s Luas fleet.
They are being constructed at the company’s factory near Katowice in Poland.
The new trains will be comprised of five carriages which will be slightly shorter than the current DART’s four carriages, but both trains will be the same total length.
Several features have been added to the new fleet after input from focus groups, including dedicated family and bike areas and large, high-resolution onboard displays providing real-time updates, including information from other public transport systems.
New trains will also have more comfortable individual seating, reflecting longer distances which the DART+ fleet will operate.
Other key features include low-height doorway thresholds equipped with an automatic retractable step and improved dedicated wheelchair spaces.
Iarnród Éireann have shared drone footage of the inside of a carriage.
Speaking at the fleet preview in Inchicore, Minister Ryan said:
“It is great to see this preview of the new DART+ carriages today, which customers have helped design and which will be available in the coming years.”
“The DART+ Programme will transform our commuter system, vastly increasing the number of passengers who will have access to a quality and reliable rail network. This new fleet will facilitate DART trips to and from Drogheda from 2025 and then beyond that to the West and South West.”
“With dedicated wheelchair, family and bicycle areas, the new fleet will ensure accessiblity to a wide variety of passengers at different times of the day and week, providing comfort and independence for all users.”
Funded under the National Development Plan 2021 to 2030 by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority, the DART+ Programme will more than double the commuter capacity and treble the electrification of the Greater Dublin Area rail network.
A planning application for Dart+ West to expand out to Maynooth was lodged last July, while an application for Dart+ South West, which would see the DART travel as far as Celbridge, was lodged last week.
The number of people living within 1km of a DART station will increase from about 250,000 at present to 600,000 in future.
Chief Executive of Iarnród Éireann, Jim Meade said:
“Thanks to input from our customers and drivers, and the work of the Iarnród Éireann and Alstom teams, we can now experience what the future of DART+ transport will be like. The sample carriage we see on display is modern, comfortable and customer centred and we look forward to having these carriages in use on our network serving new and existing communities for generations to come.”
In addition to the fleet, Alstom will provide a range of supports, including a Technical Support and Spares Supply agreement for the first 15 years of the fleet’s operation, and provision of three train simulators to support driver training.
A 10-carriage train, made up of two 5-carriage train sets joined, will be the longest train size operable by the new fleet on current infrastructure, and will have capacity for at least 1,100 customers.
Sixty-five new battery-electric carriages will be deployed first on Drogheda to Dublin Northern Commuter services from 2025.
New electric carriages will be also deployed on existing Malahide/Howth to Bray/Greystones DART services, allowing all services to be operated at maximum length.
The further 90 battery-electric carriages ordered in December 2022 will facilitate the overall DART+ network, with potential to use them on other parts of the rail network.
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