Welcome to this website which serves as a history and archive of the development of Ireland's rail network, with a focus on Dublin. From the network's origins in the 19th century, to its dismantlement in the 20th, and resurgence in the 21st, information can be found on the current efforts to expand it in various ways.

You can start with the history of railways in Ireland. The current situation is documented on the Current Rail Programme page. The full list of all projects, past, present and future, is on the Full Project List page.
Below can be found some maps and news items. Finally, the Futures page has a wishlist of projects that would be useful in the long term. Note that this is a wishlist and there is no plan to build any of these as of yet!


Current Rail Programme (Dublin)

 
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Schemes under construction are marked with a red star. Use the link above the map to open in a full screen. 		 

Current Rail Programme (Ireland)

 
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NEWS

Update 22/11/2024: Great news today, as the DART+ Southwest project has received planning approval! This large project will electrify the Heuston/Phoenix Park Tunnel to Hazelhatch corridor. In 2010 most of this was 4-tracked so as well as overhead wiring the remaining 2/3 track section from Park West-Heuston will be 4-tracked. There will also be a new station constructed at Heuston West. This location already has a platform on one side, but is never used.
In addition, many bridges along the route will need to be demolished and widened, such as at Le Fanu Road, Kylemore Road and the large and complex road junction at Islandbridge. Unlike the DART+ West project out to Maynooth, however, this one will not require any level crossing closures as it does not feature any.
Surprisingly the planning decision decided that the Khyber Pass pedestrian overbridge would not be retained. This old bridge has long since provided pedestrian access from Ballyfermot to the Inchicore railway works depot and its removal may prove controversial.

There is a separate project to build new stations at Ballyfermot (at the Kylemore road overbridge) and Cabra West at Hampton Gardens.

In other news, famous Youtuber Geoff Marshall, who covers rail and train infrastructure, attended the launch of the new DART Fleet trains.

Update 20/11/2024: The first 5-carriage DART train has arrived at the railway depot at Inchicore, Dublin. The sleek new units were manufactured near Katowice in Poland and will now enter an extensive testing phase before entering service in 2026. This testing could not happen in Poland as Ireland uses a different rail gauge from the rest of Europe, so the train needed to be delivered to our network first.
The train is battery-electric meaning it can run in electric mode without overhead wiring needing to be place. This means in turn that the new electrified DART service can be launched very soon without having to wait for the wiring.
The trains will be a step-change in comfort and accessibility, not to mention capacity.

The railway order (planning application for a railway) has been submitted for Luas Finglas. This 4 km light rail extension of the Green Line will bring the line from Broombridge to Charlestown through Finglas village. Hopefully new planning legislation is enacted soon and the processing time is a lot faster than usual.
The R.O. can be viewed at a dedicated website: www.luasfinglasro.ie
All the information you could need is in the Non Technical Summary document. According to page 60, enabling works will take 1 year, construction will take 3 years and commissioning 9 months.
There is also a flythrough video on Youtube.

The line is planned to be open by 2031.

Update 16/11/2024: The project to reinstate rail between Dublin and Navan in County Meath will be reactivated very soon, as has been reported in the media. Although the project had a preferred route via Dunshaughlin, it seems changes in expectation mean the project will have to go back to the drawing board. It had not been planned to ever be electrified, even in the long term - bridges would not have been designed with provision for overhead wires, and it seems government policy on this has shifted. Hopefully the relaunched project will be double track electrified from day one.
Additionally it is hoped a route that serves Dunshaughlin better is chosen, as the previous route stayed west of the town and would have provided a station rather distant from it. There is no plan to serve Ratoath or Ashbourne either though they are rapidly growing Dublin commuter towns.

Update 20/10/2024: There was a Dail (Irish Parliament) debate on transport on the 9th Oct. Many interesting DART updates came from it, which have been summarised by Boards.ie user PlatformNine and are here reproduced. The page numbers refer to the PDF version of the debate. JR means Judicial Review.
  1. D+ West to start constructions in 2026 (p.5) (this is the first time I have seen a year given)
  2. New DART carriages are be delivered by the end of the month, start services in Jan. 2026 (p.9)
  3. Part of the second order of DART carriages will be used in expanding DART services to wicklow town (p.16, p.27)
  4. ABP rejecting planning for the Maynooth depot is not a major setback. The current infrastructure can support the first three orders. Plan resubmission to ABP within 6 months (p.21)
  5. He also addressed JRs, (this is more clear in the video from 1:33:50) it sounds like there are NO JRs but there are some issues to be worked out. With that said I don't know if that refers to the depot specifically or D+ west as a whole. (p.21)
  6. If Howth shuttle service happens it would not be until early 2030s (p.26)
-PlatformNine

Meanwhile one of the new DART trains is under wraps and is ready to be shipped to Ireland from the Alstom factory, as shown in a tweet on X/Twitter.

Update 13/10/2024: Irish Rail have announced plans to quadruple the railway line north out of Connolly Station. The line currently carries the coastal DART and also mainline rail services to Drogheda, Dundalk and Belfast. The plan, known as 4 North, will allow a large increase in train frequency, as trains entering the city from Belfast and other towns outside the range of the DART will not be disrupted by the frequent electric DART services.
It was also noted that the first of the new electric DARTs will be introduced in January 2026 on the Malahide-Drogheda route.

Update 28/09/2024: Irish Rail have announced that planning has been submitted to Galway County Council for approval to build a passing loop through Oranmore train station east of Galway. It is surprising that such a small project took since 2022 just to get to the point where it was ready to seek planning, but here we are.

Update 27/08/2024: Work will begin next month on doubling the track from Glounthaune to Midleton in Cork, after a contract for this work was awarded. Ten kilometres of track will be doubled, track crossovers will be provided, and level crossing works will be carried out.
The work is due to start on 23rd September.

Update 01/08/2024: For Metrolink, an Oral Hearing took place from 19th Feb to 27th March of this year. This summer, further information was released to the public for consultation. It is still expected a decision will be forthcoming by year end or early 2025.

Update 18/07/2024: After 2 years of consideration planning permission has been achieved for DART+ West, which comprises the Maynooth railway line, the spur to Dunboyne and M3 Parkway, and to a new station in Docklands called Spencer Dock. However, the depot was refused permission as it is proposed to be built on a flood plain! TII have indicated that they will alter this plan accordingly and submit a new application for it as a standalone project in order to avoid delaying the main works. Since a year of tendering, procurement and construction ramp-up is usual, it looks like work will begin in July or August next year.