Cork set for record rail investment delivering fleet of electric trains and eight new stations

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

Eight new stations and a fleet of electric trains are planned for Cork as part of a €1.8 bn commuter rail programme that will be the biggest-ever investment in the county’s rail network, an Irish Rail manager told councillors this week.

AJ Cronin, Delivery Manager for the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme (CACR), told this month’s meeting of the East Cork Municipal District that the programme will deliver upgrades to the Mallow, Midleton and Cobh lines connecting to Cork city with the goal of delivering more trains and better connections in the Cork metropolitan area.

Adding to the current ten stations, three new stations are planned on the Mallow line (Blarney/Stoneview, Monard and Blackpool/Kilbarry), four on the Midleton line (Tivoli, Dunkettle, Carrigtwohill West and Water Rock), and one on the Cobh line (Ballynoe). The Blarney/Stoneview and Dunkettle stations will also offer park & ride facilities.

“The stations will act as hubs for integrated public transport with active travel projects and with Bus Connects and the Cork-Luas proposals,” Mr Cronin said. He said that preliminary designs for the new stations are at an advanced stage with a public consultation process expected in the second quarter of this year.

Agreement has been reached with the National Transport Authority to fund the Blackpool/Kilbarry and Dunkettle stations earlier than the others.

“We would hope to advance planning applications for those stations in the coming weeks and then move to detailed design and construction as soon as possible. I would expect within the next 12 months that we would start both of those stations,” Mr Cronin said.

The Irish Rail delivery manager said the goal is “to allow us to operate trains at a 10-minute frequency on all three routes.” As part of the programme, a €180m signalling upgrade to support a trebling of the number of trains running between the three towns and Cork city is expected to be completed this year and commissioned in 2027.

In addition, a second track is currently being installed between Glounthaune and Midleton with 4 km already laid. The €92m works are expected to be largely completed by mid-year and will enable a trebling of capacity on the line.

The Cork area commuter network will be fully electric, a first for Ireland outside of Dublin’s DART system. “Today we operate eight two-car diesel multiple units and we will go to 21 electric multiple units. It will be an electric fleet, fully decarbonised, so a much quieter, more sustainable fleet in the Cork area. For the first time, we will see electric trains outside the Dublin area. Cork will become the next location on the network that will have an electric fleet,” Mr Cronin said.

The electric trains will cost around €280m with an order expected to be placed in 2028. Mr Cronin predicted they will enter service in 2030 or 2031. A fleet maintenance depot will be built between Carrigtwohill and Midleton to service and maintain the new fleet.

Mr Cronin acknowledged councillors’ concerns about the current lack of capacity on the three Cork commuter lines given the growing demand, particularly in the mornings. “We are looking at short-term improvements to try and alleviate some of that peak service capacity issue by cascading some fleet from other parts of the network in the short term to provide that capacity and also looking at the existing fleet … but ultimately capacity won't increase until we see the new fleet,” he said.