No Drogs DART for a decade

THERE are no plans to extend the DART line to Drogheda in the near future and the rollout of the scheme is at least a decade away, it has been revealed.

Responding to a query from local TD Fergus O’Dowd on the status of plans to bring DART services to Drogheda, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross said elements of the DART Expansion programme, including the extension to Drogheda, are being considered in the context of the 10 year investment plan that is expected to be published in the near future.

The Minister went on to say that the Government’s budgetary framework for capital investment, as set out in Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021, was reviewed last year in the context of the Mid-Term Review of capital priorities, delivery and funding. Following this work, Budget 2018 increased the multi-annual capital investment funding envelopes for the coming four-year period, including providing an enhanced capital envelope of €2.7 billion for public transport investment between 2018 and 2021.

‘ This enhanced capital envelope includes funding in the order of €230 million for mainline rail and DART capacity enhancement and will allow acceleration of the initial stages of the overall DART Expansion Programme, focussing particularly at this stage on providing additional fleet to enhance capacity, and extending the electrified DART system,’ he said.