Two separate legal challenges are being pursued over the €1 billion Dart+ project which aims to extend electric trains from Dublin to Maynooth, in Co Kildare, and to the M3 Parkway in Co Meath.
Burke Brothers, a hardware and electrical wholesale company close to the Navan Road and Ashtown train station, and its neighbour Gowan Motor Group have separately challenged An Bord Pleanála’s decision to approve the project.
The High Court has set June 23rd for hearing the judicial review challenges. It has noted the cases should take three days before Mr Justice Garrett Simons.
Both businesses have previously told a Bord Pleanála hearing into the Dart+ West project their successful operations stand to be significantly affected by land acquisition and road works associated with the project.
The works include the replacement of a level crossing at Ashtown Road by an underpass along with changes to the local road layout and an anticipated increase in traffic along the nearby Mill Lane.
Dart+ West is designed to double train services along the Maynooth line from six to 12 per hour per direction, increasing hourly passenger capacity from 5,000 to more than 13,000 each way.
The project involves the construction of a new station at Spencer Dock and electrification of the rail line to Maynooth and the M3 Parkway, near Dunboyne, Co Meath, as well as the closure of level crossings and construction of new bridges and station infrastructure. It is anticipated that services would first be operated by battery-operated electric trains pending the installation of overhead power lines.
When the board approved the project last July, it refused permission for a new maintenance depot to the west of Maynooth station due to potential flood risks.
Irish Rail is now preparing a separate railway order application for alternative proposals for a depot.
An application for the next phase of the expansion, Dart+ South West, which will bring the Dart to Celbridge, was submitted to the board in March 2023. Permission was granted for the South West phase last November.
Dart+ West is the first phase of Irish Rail’s plans for a big 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, Co Wicklow.
A spokeswoman for Irish Rail confirmed the company had been made aware of the judicial review that lists the defendants as Bord Pleanála, the Minister for Transport and the Attorney General.
