IRELAND: Procurement of design and build contractors for the DART+ Coastal North project to extend Dublin’s electric suburban services north from Malahide to Drogheda is to get underway, following the granting of planning approval during August.
The planned infrastructure improvements include:
- 37 km of electrification and resignalling of the railway between Malahide and Drogheda;
- reconstruction of the existing track layout and associated infrastructure in the vicinity of Drogheda, Malahide, Clongriffin and Howth Junction and Donaghmede stations; including a new platform at Drogheda, and infrastructure to enable operational flexibility for both direct Howth to Dublin and Howth to Howth Junction DART shuttle services;
- civil, bridge and ancillary works;
- improvements to Howth Junction and Donaghmede station;
- modification of Fairview and Drogheda depots to support the new Alstom train fleet;
- track reconfiguration north of Malahide to provide a turnback facility.
Subject to funding being allocated, it is anticipated that construction would take around three years.
‘The provision of DART services will transform commuting for the existing and new communities along this railway corridor’, said Jim Meade, Chief Executive of national railway Iarnród Eireann, on August 25.
It is the third project under the DART+ programme to improve services around the capital to receive planning approval, after the DART+ West Railway Order was granted in July 2024 and DART+ South West in November 2024. Work is underway on preliminary designs for DART+ Coastal South and DART+ Depot.
