Irish Rail is planning to double the number of tracks on its northern route out of Dublin from two to four.
The plan, which Irish Rail chief executive Jim Meade said he hoped would be published by early next year, involves separating Dart and commuter services from the Dublin to Belfast services, similar to the four-track railway approach to Dublin city from the west.
“We believe this [four-track approach] needs to be replicated north of Connolly Station, ideally between Connolly and Malahide, and this ambition is also included in the All-Island Strategic Rail Review,” he told the Oireachtas transport committee on Wednesday.
“The conflicts which arise from shared train types on a twin-track railway will remain with us until we increase that track capacity. We are undertaking a study of the requirements to deliver a four-track section, and believe this critical infrastructure should be accelerated to enable continuing service expansion and significant Enterprise journey time improvement.”
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Mr Meade said the project – known as 4 North – would make it possible “ultimately” for a rail link from the northern line at Clongriffin to Dublin Airport.
Addressing the committee, Mr Meade apologised again for the recent difficulties with commuter services in Dublin, which were the result of a new timetable introduced by Irish Rail and the National Transport Authority (NTA) on August 26th.
Mr Meade confirmed services would generally revert to the pre-August timetable from Monday next.
He blamed the recent disruptions on issues related to signalling at Connolly Station; creating space for the new hourly service between Dublin and Belfast due later this month; significantly increased passenger demand; and a need to separate commuter from intercity rail on Dublin’s northern line.
Asked by committee chairman Alan Farrell TD why the new timetable had been introduced just as the autumn academic term was beginning, Mr Meade said there were a number of factors influencing the timeline. These included the deployment of 41 new Intercity railcars; the addition of further later-evening service options on a number of Intercity routes; and factoring in the opening of Belfast Grand Central Station, among others.
He said parts of the current railway network were “heaving” due to capacity issues and these included the Rosslare line and the Galway line as well as the northern line.
Mr Meade told TDs and Senators the new electric fleet currently being built by Alstom would be deployed from January 2026. The first of the new electric trains will be deployed on the northern line, and these will operate between Malahide and Drogheda on battery power. But he said “some disruption” to northern line services was likely during construction as the overhead lines were being put in place. He said the priority would be to keep Monday-to-Friday services open.
“Additionally, we will shortly finalise and publish the Wicklow capacity study, to outline the approach to increase frequency and capacity on this corridor,” he said.
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