Irish Rail - The path to electrification
With the lowest electrification percentage in the whole of Europe, what can Ireland do to get on the path to greener rail?
As much as the UK feels like a black sheep in the continent of Europe when it comes to transport and infrastructure, Ireland has slipped under the radar in a lot of transport enthusiasts’ mind.
Ireland has a tiny 53Km of its 1,662Km total network electrified and 0Km of high speed network. This amounts to around 3% of the total network which hovers around the likes of Thailand and Mexico. All 53Kms of electrified network are due to the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) line in the capital.
So that has raised the question to me, what has Ireland got in store to improve this percentage and what are the major political parties saying around rail electrification in the country?
How did we get to where we are today?
As mentioned in the introduction, DART, opening in 1984, is the only electric railway in Ireland. It also came nearly a century too late compared to its European neighbours in the UK, France and Spain, with the initial electrification of the line that would become the DART coming more from necessity than from a forward thinking plan.
Extensions to the service were made North and South (Malahide and Greystones respectively) in the year 2000 but this was very little compared to what other European countries were achieving.
What are the Major Parties saying?
The incumbents are currently a coalition between Fianna Fáil as the biggest party with Fine Gael, and The Greens. Even in coalition their majority is non existent and with the Fianna Fáil equal on seats with main rival Sinn Fein.
None of the individual parties in the coalition have shown their hand prior to an, at latest, March 2025 election. That being said, as a whole they have mentioned electrification in this one off sentence “expand the Irish Rail fleet and progress the electrification of rail services to decrease journey times and emissions” which, as welcome a mention that is, leaves a lot to be desired in terms of an actual plan.
Sinn Féin in their 2024 alternative budget mentioned electrification a whopping 0 times with them only looking to reopen some closed and freight-only rail corridors.
This is also consistent with their 2022 document on “Driving Down Emissions with Public Transport”. Which, of course, is an admirable goal but out of scope for this particular subject of electrification.
It remains to be seen what the major parties will say come election time but currently not much is being said by any of them. Current polling and seat projection looks like it will be another coalition, this time with Sinn Féin with the bargaining power with a plurality of seats.
Can we expect any progress?
Short answer is YES! But it is slightly underwhelming.
Firstly, DART+ will offer a tripling of electrified routes using Alstom EMUs utilising overhead and battery power. There will be multiple new lines added to the existing DART network. This comprises of DART+ Coastal North, which is an extension to Drogheda of the current section from Connolly to Malahide by electrifying existing National Rail infrastructure. DART+ Coastal South, a rebrand of the existing south section of the line from Connolly to Greystones. And DART+ West and South West which both include the electrification of lines to Maynooth, M3 Parkway, Heuston and Hazelhatch. On all lines there will be other signalling and bridge upgrades as well as removal of level crossings.
One thing that is good about the DART+ programme is that it is split into a few sub projects which allows for all too common changes in scope or downsizing by local or national government instead of it being treated as a mega-project.
This, however, will not even make a dent in an electrified revolution that is needed to get Ireland on par with the rest of Europe. If this was the only project to be completed in full and in the unlikely event that no progress was made by any other country while they were building it, it would still put them 2 percentage points behind the next least electrified European country (Estonia) although Ireland would have overall more track.
This is also very capital city centric and, although needed, will not help with social mobility in other areas of the country.
In a similar way, this next project for Ireland’s second/third most populous city (depending what side of the Republican fence you sit on) is also very city centric, Cork Area Commuter Rail.
This is another set of upgrades of existing routes in a very similar vein to DART+ which includes track doubling, signalling upgrades, a new through platform at Kent, new stations, and a new fleet of trains which also use either battery or overhead as a source.
CACR is also being done in piecemeal chunks with the former three of the above list with the more concrete dates of sometime in 2026. The other two parts are as vague as some of the DART+ proposals are with very little timeframe being eluded. The extra 62KMs worth of electrified track alongside DART would boost Ireland’s total percentage of electrified track to 12.8% which would leapfrog Estonia but would be far behind the next lowest European country of the Czech Republic.
This is again a nice project for the people in Cork and will no doubt get people out of their cars but is there something that will be done between cities?
Maybe, is the answer to that as the Irish Government are looking into the feasibility of a 500KM high speed rail line between Belfast and Limerick via Dublin and Cork. Which, if approved, would transform Ireland in terms of electrification percentage to a whopping 33% (assuming all 500KM were brand new). There are currently few details on this project but is something to look out for in the future.
So a bigger number means a better railway right?
As with anything, bigger does not always mean better. As interesting as this article was to write from a numbers perspective, public transport only works well if it allows people to get where they want to go in a convenient way, without the need for a car. The development of existing lines holistically to not just be electric, but effective for passenger needs with new signalling, rolling stock and stations. Electrification is never a silver bullet but helps facilitate cheaper running costs in the long run along with improved speeds.
Intercity improvements however, need to be a big focus as well, ideally with a combination of both high speed infrastructure and the upgrading of existing lines. This looks to have fallen by the wayside with very unambitious plans from all major parties but the upcoming election cycle will allow all parties to show their hand.
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