Delivery of Dart to Wicklow town meets with delay as new deadline set
Plenty of what proved to be broken promises have been made down the years regarding the introduction of the service. In 2019, it was announced that the Dart for Wicklow town would be operational by 2023-2024. Timeframes for 2025 and 2026 were also announced, but were subsequently rowed back on.
NTA CEO Anne Graham and NTA Deputy CEO Hugh Creegan both gave a presentation at Wicklow County Council's monthly meeting in October of last year, confirming that the NTA are looking at a four to five year timeframe to introduce the service.
However, during a meeting hosted by the Transport, Infrastructure Delivery and Emergency Services and the Strategic Policy Committee of Wicklow County Council in March of this year, those in attendance were informed that the target for the arrival of the Dart to Wicklow town had been reduced to an expected arrival at the end of 2028.
But now Deputy Whitmore has been informed that the service won't be introduced to Wicklow town until 2029.
She stated: 'Last month in the Dáil, we were given firm timelines for the Drogheda Dart, so why not for Wicklow? Drogheda is set to expect its battery-electric Dart service from 2026, and yet Wicklow keeps being delayed and delayed without any firm commitment.
'Iarnród Éireann recently informed me that a capacity study is being carried out for Wicklow, wherein the battery-electric Dart fleet will be considered for use on this line. I welcome this study and look forward to its publication, but it is long overdue, and the fact that the electric Dart is now a mere consideration for Wicklow is deeply concerning.'
Despite multiple promises and shifting deadlines, the project has most recently been pushed back to 2029.
'The new battery-electric Dart was first promised in 2019 when then Minister Shane Ross stated his expectation that we would see them by 2023-2024. Since then, we have seen delay after delay - in 2021, a local government backbencher ambitiously stated that the carriages would be operational in Wicklow by 2025,' explained Deputy Whitmore.
'A year later, Iarnród Éireann reiterated that statement, heralding that 95 electric and battery-electric rail cars would enter into service in 2025. In 2022, former Minister Stephen Donnelly announced that the electric Dart would be operational by 2026, then in February of this year the date was pushed back to 2028. We are now being told that it won't be until 2029 that Wicklow sees a battery-electric Dart.
"This continuous shifting of deadlines is completely unacceptable. Every time we ask, it gets moved out another year. This is more than a political issue – people are making huge life decisions based on these promises, promises that directly impact where they can live and work. Insufficient and inefficient public transport options are not just an inconvenience; they are a barrier to economic growth and quality of life.'
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Deputy Whitmore feels even once the Iarnród Éireann study has been carried out, it will still take some time to implement any of the changes. She said that she would push for a bus service from Wicklow town to Greystones.
She added: 'It is incredible that, in 2025, there is no connecting service between these two commuter towns and Wicklow town is only serviced by two peak morning trains. The government talks about providing infrastructure and public services, yet two large towns, in a county only an hour and a half away from Dublin, still have no connecting service.'
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