EU supporting Dublin’s rail connection

The European Union will co-finance with over €1.4 million from the TEN-T Programme a study to lay the groundwork to renew the train signalling systems within the Greater Dublin Area. The project, which contributes to the realisation of the “Railway/road axis Ireland/United Kingdom/continental Europe” (TEN-T Priority Project 26) is part of the broader DART underground rail line and will considerably increase rail capacity in the area.

The project, which was selected for funding under the 2012 TEN-T Multi-Annual Call, will support the realisation of a study to design a new signalling system between Connolly Station to Sandymount Station. The existing signalling system in Dublin is outdated and is not capable of meeting the requirements for increased train frequencies to be delivered as part of the DART Underground Programme. The project addresses the need to replace the existing system and provide for increased train frequencies by replacing outdated equipment with more modern technologies.

The DART Underground rail line, which would run from Docklands to Inchicore, would complete the trebling of the Greater Dublin area’s rail service capacity from 33 million passenger journeys annually now to 100 million passenger journeys upon completion.

Completion of the project is a necessary step ahead of the works phase, which will ultimately improve rail connections for the regions as well as in the EU as a whole.

The project will be monitored by the Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-T EA) and is set to be completed by December 2013.