Louth

Most of the route could cater for a third track without further land acquisition, but yes there would still be a significant cost. Irish Rail and NIR are planning for an hourly Enterprise service with "higher speed" Intercity trains. This just cannot be achieved with the current DART+ proposal.

At the same time, Irish Rail are extending the DART to Drogheda with a big increase in the number of commuter trains. The Enterprise already crawls in from Malahide and in the future will crawl from Drogheda. In 1947 when the Enterprise service started, it took 2 hours 15 min from Belfast to Dublin with steam locomotives. Journey times are the same today. Based on DART+ timetable estimates from Irish Rail, the Enterprise will in the future take well over 2 hours 30 minutes at peak times (and this is being optimistic). Another consequence of DART+ is a shuttle service between Howth and Howth Junction rather than direct services to Dublin. The solution is to increase the number of tracks from 2 to 3 or ideally 4 between Malahide and Connolly as was done on the Heuston-Hazelhatch portion of the Cork line. If you wish to make a submission to Irish Rail, send an email to DARTCoastalNorth@irishrail.ie by Friday 23 of June. Full details on www.dartplus.ie

Johnson's Atlas and Gazetteer of the Railways of Ireland gives a wealth of information on historic lines and stations but unfortunately doesn't seem to distinguish between single and double tracks. However if you have great patience and eyesight, you can look at the historic maps on the Ordinance Survey Ireland website (osi.ie). These show which lines were single and which were double.

DART+ will add more commuter traffic to the Dublin-Drogheda line. This will slow up services from Belfast and Dundalk which tend to crawl in from Malahide already. The only solution is to four-track the line from Malahide to Connolly (passing loops would be an interim solution) and to remodel Connolly itself. DART Underground would also make a big difference and allow services to run straight through to the Heuston and beyond. We will have to wait for the outcome of the Strategic Rail Review and DART+ consultation process to see what solutions are proposed.....but I wouldn't be holding my breath! We will probably get hydrogen powered trains instead.

Best bet would be a Hunslet and a set of maroon/blue Mk 2b coaches. I can't guess the third but am waiting with much anticipation!