The chief executive of Irish Rail has told an Oireachtas committee that it would take about five years to complete a DART service to Dublin Airport.
The suggested proposal was raised with politicians today in a wide-ranging discussion regarding access to the airport.
Irish Rail's Jim Meade also said that any DART link would be in addition to the long-awaited Metro to the airport.
Sinn Féin TD for Leitrim, Martin Kenny, asked Mr Meade about the possibility of building the DART line given that building the Metro North rail line is expected to take 10 years.
Mr Meade said it was up to the Government to decide if it wants to do it or not.
He said it was the ambition of the European Commission to connect all major city airports with traffic of more than 12 million passengers with the heavy rail network by 2040.
That would come in line with the All-Ireland rail review, he added.
Mr Meade said with a fair wind, the planning process would take two to two-and-a-half years, while building the line after this process would be around the same.
He said five years was a fair estimate, but would not put a cost on it
Regarding a route, Mr Meade said the route would elevate and go over the M1 from Clongriffin, same as the way much of the rail line across Dublin was elevated. He said it would not go underground.
Labour TD for Dublin Fingal, Duncan Smith, expressed his disappointment that Sinn Féin had proposed the idea of a DART service out to the airport, saying it would exclude towns like Swords, Ballymun and DCU.
It also would not fix the congestion on the M1 corridor, he said.
Mr Meade said the Metro was absolutely needed, saying "it's not A or B. It's not an either/or situation".
He said there was merely an option to add a DART line to the airport, as well as having the Metro North.
Catering
Another issue raised by members of the Transport Committee was the catering service.
Irish Rail hopes to be able to return catering to all long-distance services, but says that cost is a major factor.
Mr Meade said that even in boom times, the company was subsidising the cost of providing catering on trains.
He said the restoration of a trolley service on some services on the Cork line was providing valuable information as to its potential expansion.
He said Irish Rail was "currently in the market to restore full service, but it will come back to a cost factor
"We would hope to put services back on all routes post that procurement process", he added.
He said that they hoped to have costs by mid-June, at which point they would have a hierarchy of routes that would get the catering trolley.
He told Fine Gael TD for Mayo, Alan Dillon, that the ideal scenario was to get catering on all routes at the same time.
Capacity and overcrowding
Pressed by Cathal Crowe, Fianna Fáil TD for Clare about crowding on trains, Mr Meade said "it will be two to three years before we get to a point where people won't have to stand".
Two Green TDs spoke about the potential growth of Irish Rail and said investment needed to be protected.
Steven Matthews, TD for Wicklow, said that the 2:1 spend on public transport infrastructure (as against new roads) as set out in the Programme for Government had to be protected.
"That 2:1 spend must be a priority... Irish Rail needs to have that certainty, because you can't have stop-start change of policy." he said.
Brian Leddin, TD for Limerick City said parochial interests had to be set aside and TDs should focus on the bigger picture of a national rail service.
Sinn Féin TD for Meath East, Darren O’Rourke, asked Irish Rail executives if they got the sense that the Department of Transport and the National Transport Authority appreciated the benefits delivered in terms of longevity and environmental impact.
He quoted the NTA as saying some Irish Rail upgrade projects were "breathtakingly expensive."
Mr Meade said "anywhere you put in significant heavy rail infrastructure, it gets used and it gets overused."
He added that they do get a fair hearing, but he would not use the same language as the NTA.
Recruitment drive
On securing the future of Irish Rail through recruitment of drivers and mechanics, Mr Meade said they had had reasonable success so far.
He said they are also bringing in more female drivers - the new intake stands at 20% women at the moment.
A spokesperson for Irish Rail said that 46.1 million journeys were made across Intercity, DART and Commuter services in 2023 - a 29% increase on 2022’s total of 35.8 million, and just short of the pre-COVID record of over 50 million.
"With Intercity seeing particularly strong recovery, we introduced new services on routes including Cork, Limerick, Westport/Ballina and Carlow in our recent December 2023 timetable change, as well as enhanced Portlaoise and Drogheda Commuter services.
"In the short term, we will begin the introduction of 41 new Intercity railcar carriages, which could not be more timely, and envisage further timetable improvements during 2024, particularly on the Galway and Belfast routes."
Mr Meade said 19 new trains would be delivered in 2025, with 18 new trains on order for 2026.
Average commute now almost 17km
The Labour Party said today that the average commute by people in Ireland is now 16.9kms, while the average commute for college students is continuing to rise, up to 34.8kms in 2022.
According to the party's Transport spokesperson Deputy Duncan Smith, those in Laois, Leitrim and Roscommon face the longest average commutes at 24.4kms, 23.7kms and 22.4kms respectively, many of them making the journey by car.
"Those in County Galway spend an average of 22kms to and from the workplace, while Offaly and Westmeath commuters travel 21.7kms to and from work," he said.
He said a lack of public transport options outside the capital and a lack of affordable housing options were contributing to the problem.
"When it comes to climate friendly ways to travel to and from work, public transport infrastructure remains underdeveloped.
"This Government is failing to prioritise investment in public transport and connectivity between the cities and counties to get people out of the car and onto the bus," he said, adding that employers should also show more flexibility in cases where people can avoid a commute and work from home.
Additional reporting: Eleanor Burnhill
