Clare O'Loughlin
Europe Press Office, Ireland
Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) has appointed Arup to provide multidisciplinary engineering services to upgrade the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) Coastal lines, as part of the DART+ Programme.
As Dublin and its surrounding areas continue to grow, the DART+ Programme will transform local mobility through a series of major infrastructure expansion projects, tripling Dublin’s city and commuter lines to create a 150km rail network.
The existing DART system connects the city centre and surrounding coastal areas, spanning 50km from Malahide/Howth in north County Dublin southwards as far as Greystones in County Wicklow.
By joining up the existing lines and expanding the geographical coverage, the major DART Coastal line expansion aims to reduce reliance on private car use, supporting the country’s sustainability ambitions by providing the backbone of an efficient public transport network.
Upgrading DART+ Coastal will increase the resilience of the transport network, contributing to Ireland’s commitment to become climate-neutral by 2050 under the European Green Deal. The extensive upgrade involves extending electrified services from Dublin city centre as far north as Drogheda in County Louth, as well as improving services along the entire length of the south-eastern line to Greystones in County Wicklow.
