IRISH RAIL HAS launched plans to add new tracks along Ireland\u2019s busiest rail corridor in a bid to increase capacity and allow for more frequent train services.<\/p>\n
The state rail operator today announced the start of its FourNorth programme, which proposes adding additional tracks alongside the existing railway between Dublin Connolly and Malahide.<\/p>\n
The route is currently used by Dart, Northern Commuter, Belfast Enterprise and freight services, all of which share two tracks.<\/p>\n
Irish Rail said the existing layout has become a major bottleneck, particularly during peak periods, with even minor disruptions causing knock-on delays across the network.<\/p>\n
The additional tracks are intended to increase capacity, improve reliability and allow more frequent services on one of the country\u2019s busiest rail corridors.<\/p>\n
The project is currently in the early design and option development stage, with public consultation expected to begin later this year.<\/p>\n
Irish Rail chief executive Mary Considine said the project was about \u201cbuilding a resilient, high-capacity rail corridor\u201d that would support growing passenger demand and strengthen regional rail connections.<\/p>\n
Transport Minister Darragh O\u2019Brien said the line between Connolly and Malahide is \u201cone of the busiest on the island\u201d and that limited track capacity has become a key constraint on increasing services.<\/p>\n
He said the project would support additional Dart, commuter and Enterprise services while also improving reliability for existing passengers.<\/p>\n
The proposal builds on recommendations in the All-Island Strategic Rail Review, published in 2024, which identified four-tracking sections of the Northern Line as a key long-term priority.<\/p>\n
The review estimated that adding extra tracks between Dublin and Clongriffin alone could cost between \u20ac700 million and \u20ac1 billion at 2021 prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IRISH RAIL HAS launched plans to add new tracks along Ireland\u2019s busiest rail corridor in a bid to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,23591,13413,254627,52,18,13,14,6,19,17,13419,11,12,15,16,13420,5,7,8,13422,254628],"class_list":["post-602228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-connolly","tag-dart","tag-down-the-track","tag-dublin","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-rail","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-malahide","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-trains","tag-twin-tracks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116975783591194966","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}