Darrman

The new Luas Cork consultation has opened, with parts of the alignment reviewed. The Ballincollig loop has been moved further west, the Bishopstown alignment has been changed, and a few extra stops have been added in throughout.

https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/news/dart-to-be-extended-to-kilcock-as-new-depot-locati The new depot site has been announced. This time, Irish Rail intend to locate it west of Kilcock, with the line doubled and electrified up to this point. Kilcock station itself will be rebuilt to accomodate a second platform, and Dart services are to be extended there. Public consultation has begun.

Every so often I read about councillors banging on about the need for another station on the north side of Drogheda. I'm making this thread here since it's not something happening on the network, it's councillor chatter, but I want to chatter a little myself. The main operational issue I can think of is simply what's going to call at such a station? All the Dart+ plans revolve around terminating at MacBride. You could extend some terminators to this new station, but a turnback of some sort would still be necessary, as would battery charging equipment, most likely. I'd be wary of the single-track Boyne Viaduct, too. Another question is where such a station would be best located: I'm not really in a position to answer this as I'm not from anywhere near Drogheda and have only ever passed through on trains. Via poking around a bit on Street View and eyeballing things on this Rail Map Online snippet, I'd probably place a park and ride station around where the Drogheda Port Access is when that road is finished. If the siding to the port still existed, I'd put a station right before the first level crossing, but that's been long lifted. I've occasionally heard chatter about opening Dunleer again or doing some silly things in Dundalk due to parking issues, but Drogheda's the main thing that comes up on my daily "Irish Rail" search.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irish-rail-begins-compulsory-purchase-deals-with-750-landowners-for-dart-south-west-route/a1969103494.html Even if the actual construction is still on the long finger, compulsory purchases of properties along the Dart+ Southwest route is set to begin.

Well look what turned up under the tree... Merry Christmas!

https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/news/third-order-of-new-dart-carriages-placed The replacements for the 8100s have been purchased. 20 5-car electric units make up this order. On a related note, the article mentions the first wave of new Darts won't come into service until the first half of 2027, and the second some time in 2028. No time is given for this order, but if it follows the pace of the previous installments (the first contract was signed in December 2021!) the old Darts will meet their end in about 2031 or so. Maybe a bit sooner if less testing is needed. 2030 at best, then.

Some of the dots on the map are a bit off, but there is a textual list of "early interventions" for completion by 2030. In order: Reinstate Mosney loop and use Skerries loop more on the Belfast line Bring Sligo platform 2 and the disused Enfield platform back into use and build a loop somewhere between Sligo and Boyle on the Sligo line Build second platforms at Clara and Woodlawn on the Galway line Build a passing loop west of Claremorris on the Mayo line Build another platform at Limerick Junction and a passing loop east of Clonmel on Limerick-Waterford Build a spur at Portadown to future-proof the Derry Road later on The general justifications are for increased service frequencies and improved resilience: hourly Sligos and two-hourly Mayos (presumably Westports) are mentioned, along with two-hourly Limerick-Waterford services. The Limerick Junction platform is stated to save 10 minutes on Limerick-Waterford journey times, so presumably would get rid of the reversal there, while it's also mentioned to facilitate Cork-Galway services. Where would you put this platform? My gut would put it immediately after the flat crossing near platform 4, but that would be useless for Cork-Galway service. Putting one before Keane's Points would be a long walk for the passenger. Maybe the plan is to just rebuild the whole thing? A "reconfiguration" is given in the major project pipeline. As for the more vague loop positions given, I'd assume they'd reinstate Ballymote, Castlebar, and Carrick-on-Suir loops, and all stations have disused platforms and are roughly halfway between the loops in either direction. You could make a case to have the loop at Manulla for the Mayo line instead and open it for standard passenger service.

https://www.railwaygazette.com/traction-and-rolling-stock/electro-diesel-stadler-flirt-trains-selected-to-renew-dublin-belfast-enterprise-fleet/70100.article It seems like the contract's been signed now. (It'll be a right mess if CAF win their case after this point, as far as I know the stay on the contract signature was lifted, but the case wasn't thrown out.) It's a Flirt variant, running on the Dart's wires and on diesel the rest of the time. Some small batteries are included for short movements. There will be toilets and provision for catering is given. Delivery scheduled for 2028, in service from 2030.

So I bought this recently and have started putting things together. Right now I've just recreated Dublin as it is, though with the Northern quadrupled and a few loops everywhere else in presumably laughably unrealistic locations. A lot of time was spent in the books calculating rolling stock numbers and then dreaming about how many more services you could slip in if 2700s were built better and lasted more than ten years, among other such things. I haven't even gone past the Dart (Plus) and Heuston-Connolly on the Luas, there's a lot more to go. And yes, there are stubs towards Broadstone and Harcourt Street.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2025/1125/1545724-ranelagh-challenge-metro/ To the surprise of absolutely nobody, there's a judicial review. Several of the objectors have previously objected to there being a station near them. The application for a review will be heard on Monday. See you in two years when it gets thrown out if I call this coin toss correctly?

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wicklow/arklow-news/update-given-on-reopening-of-two-wicklow-train-stations-on-dublin-to-rosslare-line/a406364144.html The study has been completed and although there's no technical barriers, the passenger demand isn't there and it's not worth the money. The NTA are similarly cool on another DSER proposal to reopen Glenealy. They'd much rather swing the axe-- ahem, I mean introduce a shuttle from Greystones to Rosslare. They're still considering it, as this Independent article says. Aren't intercity trains meant to have higher priority than commuter ones? Not in this country, apparently.

I'd be surprised if there was any more than a few Limerick-Claremorris trains a day: I'd say Galway would be the main start and finish point for trains. The extension to five platforms will facilitate increased frequencies on all routes. As for the route itself, I've mused about this a few years ago earlier in the thread but I'd still be surprised if any intermediate stations other than Tuam opened. The Wikipedia quip is outdated at least: Ballyglunin has an article there now. Ballindine is roughly on par with Ardrahan and Milltown is smaller still, so I wouldn't expect them to reopen. But Ardrahan did reopen, so you'd never know. One more point: while I assume no major realignments will take place, there are four level crossings of the N17, three in fairly close succession around Ballindine and in towards Claremorris. Would safety standards demand any bridging of these at expense?

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/mayo/news/irish-rail-hopes-to-have-western-rail-corridor-construction-underway-before-2030/a1540391420.html Irish Rail's CEO says the company hopes to have construction underway by 2030, with design and feasibility studies currently in progress. If money wasn't an object Athenry-Claremorris "could be delivered in three years", but it is mentioned there is no broader funding for the project currently. The hope appears to be it getting listed in the National Development Plan.

https://www.ilovelimerick.ie/moyross-train-station-planning-permission/ This piece is a bit confusingly worded: planning permission's been granted, but a "final grant of planning" will come in a few weeks. So has it been granted or not? Things appear to be moving at any rate.

https://www.dartplus.ie/en-ie/projects/dart-coastal-south/public-consultation-1/emerging-preferred-option Public consultation for Dart+ South's first phase has begun. Resignalling and general linear works will be taken between Bray and Greystones, along with cutting back Bray Platform 1 to fit in an extra crossover, as in the picture below. It will still be long enough to fit a full Dart. (From the Dart+ website.) The target is getting a train to Greystones every 20 minutes. No extensive double-tracking across "Brunel's Folly", which would be prohibitively expensive anyway. Planning application scheduled to be submitted Q4 2026. No word on Irish Rail's own channels, but the Independent claims construction will start in 2028 and take two years. It also claims planning will start Q3 2026, so pinches of salt are required.