Capacity on pressurised suburban lines will increase by up to 50 per cent from mid-December according to the Minister for transport, Mr Brennan.
Mr Brennan said there would be major improvements in rail services - including an improvement to the DART service - as the "benefits from the huge investment of over €1 billion in recent years in upgrading the railways results in significant additional capacity on trains and increased frequency of services".
"As a direct result of the historically high investment, which also funded the delivery of 80 new rail cars, the comprehensive new Iarnród Éireann timetable which comes into operation in mid December will outline a vastly improved service, with capacity on pressurised suburban lines increasing by up to 50 per cent", he said.
The new timetable will improve mid-morning and mid-afternoon intercity services also. Seven additional services will be introduced on the Limerick-Ennis route, while in Cork, the commuter service from Cobh to Cork will be extended to the growing population area of Mallow.
The delivery of 40 additional DART cars will begin in 2004 and when they go into service will increase DART customer capacity by 100 per cent since 2000 as all trains increase from six to eight carriages.
The Minister was speaking in Drogheda where he officially opened Iarnród Éireann's new €42 million Railcar Services Depot at McBride Railway Station.
The new Depot will service on an around the clock system the Irish Rail fleet of 144 diesel railcars, including the 80 new DMU's (Diesel Multiple Units), which were built in Spain.
The new fleet has many special features including air conditioning, wheelchair accessible toilets and close circuit television cameras (CCTV). Almost all of the railcars will be in service by the end of this year.
Mr Brennan said the Drogheda Depot was delivered well ahead of time and more than €1.5 million under budget.
Major improvements for customers include:-
- Increases in peak commuter capacity of 43 per cent on the Dundalk/Drogheda route from 5,670 to 8,100
- Increases of 130 per cent on the Kildare/South West route from 2,200 to 5,000
- Increases of 26 per cent on the Maynooth/Longford line from 3,320 to 4,200
- Increases of 30 per cent on the Arklow/Gorey route
- Increases of 50 per cent on the Cork/Cobh route