IRISH Rail (IÉ) has appointed Mott MacDonald to lead the Connect project to upgrade and electrify Ireland’s inter-city network, enabling faster and more frequent services while reducing carbon emissions and accelerating the transition to net zero.
The project will focus on the Dublin - Cork and Dublin - Limerick main lines. Mott MacDonald will develop a comprehensive implementation strategy and decarbonisation roadmap, supported by detailed technical studies and stakeholder engagement. This will help define the infrastructure, service and policy interventions needed to deliver a high-capacity, low-carbon rail network.
Early findings from the Connect project suggest that journey times on key inter-city routes could be reduced by up to 30 minutes through targeted infrastructure upgrades to raise the maximum speed to 200km/h, combined with the introduction of a new electric fleet.
Mainline electrification is one of the recommendations made in the final report of the All-Island Strategic Rail Review, published by Ireland’s Department of Transport and the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) in Northern Ireland in 2024. The report also recommended widening sections of the core inter-city network to two or four tracks to enable service frequencies to be increased to at least hourly.
Funded by the European Union’s (EU) Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and Ireland’s National Development Plan for 2021 to 2030, Connect is expected to more than double annual inter-city passenger numbers by 2050. It will also support Ireland’s Climate Action Plan and the EU Green Deal by enabling significant modal shift to rail from the private car.
“The Connect rail project is a significant investment by the European Union, together with the Irish government, in developing rail as the backbone of a sustainable transport system for Ireland’s citizens,” says IÉ chief executive, Mary Considine.
“Our deep understanding of rail systems, combined with our long-standing presence in Ireland, places us perfectly to lead the Connect project,” says Tony O’Toole, manging director for rail, UK and Europe, at Mott MacDonald.
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