Project Specific FAQs

For safety and maintenance reasons, no new trees would be planted close to Overhead electricity lines. A landscape and visual assessment will be undertaken as part of the design and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. Where the assessments determine that visual screening is required, this will be provided within Iarnród Éireann’s lands or lands to be acquired by Iarnród Éireann as part of the Railway Order process.

There is a premium for battery electric carriages over electric carriages, in terms of capital cost and maintenance costs. Therefore, above a certain frequency of service, it is more economical to provide Over Head Electrification as a power source and utilise electric carriages.  
In addition, charging requirements for battery electric carriages can become an issue at end stations when the frequency of service is high.

Iarnród Éireann, supported by the National Transport Authority (NTA), have provision to commission up to 750 electric/battery electric powered vehicles over a 10-year timescale. This order represents the purchase of the largest and most sustainable public transport fleet in Irish history.
The first order will include 13 battery electric DART trains and 6 electric DART trains
Thereafter, the exact quantities for subsequent orders will be confirmed based on passenger demand and rail infrastructure capacity.

The batteries will have a minimum life as traction batteries of 9 years on the units. At that point they will still retain a very large capacity and it is most likely that they will be repurposed for a static energy storage system. There is also the option that the batteries can continue to be used as a traction battery beyond 9 years on shorter services requiring BEMU operation.

Rail user groups and Iarnród Éireann staff have been and continue to be involved in the design and development of the new DART+ Fleet. We expect to hold a public consultation for the wider population when the unit design is nearing finalisation. Details of how to take part in the consultation process will be published on www.dartplus.ie when they are confirmed. 

Battery Electric Multiple Units (BEMUs) are almost identical to the traditional electric DART trains we are familiar with; however, they contain a large battery pack to provide traction power where no overhead line exists.