DART+ explained — the four railway orders, what neighbours of the line can do, and what the register shows at Ashtown

Within 2 km of the DART+ West line at Ashtown, the register holds 232 planning applications lodged in the 24 months to 12 September 2026; 135 of the 141 decided were granted, a 96% rate, with 93 commencement notices and 21 appeals. The electrified line those schemes are counting on was consented in July 2024, when An Bord Pleanála — now An Coimisiún Pleanála — made the railway order for DART+ West. The other three lines are at different points on the same road, and the road is the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001.

Four lines, four orders

DART+ is a programme, not a project, and Iarnród Éireann applies for each line separately. DART+ West electrifies the Maynooth and M3 Parkway lines from Connolly and Docklands, with a new depot west of Maynooth and the closure of level crossings at Coolmine, Porterstown, Clonsilla, Barberstown and Blakestown in favour of bridges; its railway order was granted in July 2024. DART+ South West takes the Kildare line to Hazelhatch and Celbridge with four tracks from Park West; the application was lodged in 2024 and the Commission's case page carries the decision. DART+ Coastal North extends electrification to Drogheda and was lodged in 2024. DART+ Coastal South, to Greystones, is at design stage. The battery-electric fleet that lets the lines run before every kilometre is wired arrived from 2024; dartplus.ie is the source for what is in service.

Each order carries the same three things a MetroLink order does: the authority to build and operate, the compulsory acquisition of the land in its schedule, and the conditions on construction. There is no appeal; section 47 of the 2001 Act allows eight weeks from the making of the order to seek judicial review.

Level crossings are where neighbours feel it

For MetroLink the objectors were above a tunnel. For DART+ West they live beside a level crossing. Electrification with a train every few minutes cannot keep gates that close for most of the hour, so the order closes the crossings and builds road bridges or pedestrian links in their place, taking gardens and frontages to do it. Those acquisitions were fought at the oral hearing and are now a matter of compensation under the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act 1919, with the Property Arbitrator deciding what the two sides cannot agree.

The conditions of the order set the working hours and noise limits during construction. Our reading: read the order's schedule of conditions before you call the contractor, because the condition number is what gets a complaint acted on.

What a neighbour can do on the lines still open

For a line whose application is still before the Commission, the written submission window is set in the public notice and the oral hearing follows. A submission need not be from an objector; a residents' association asking for a footbridge to be widened is as much a submission as a landowner refusing the land. For a line at design stage, Iarnród Éireann's non-statutory consultations are where the route options are chosen, and they are the only point at which "not through here" is a possible answer. The consultation feed lists the council-run pieces — station forecourts, active-travel links to platforms — that go through Part 8 or section 38 rather than the Commission.

What the register shows at Ashtown

The Ashtown point is chosen because the station sits at the seam of three things: the Royal Canal greenway, the Pelletstown and Ashtown lands that the register has been granting for a decade, and the level-crossing closures to the west. In the last two years the decided applications there were granted at a higher rate than at either of our other corridor points, and 83 residential units were in schemes stating a count.

Further down the coast, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown consulted on a proposed residential development at Woodbrook DART Gateway, Dublin 18, with submissions closing on 7 August 2026 — a council consultation, not an application, on land whose value is the new station beside it. That pattern, a station first and a council scheme second, is what the Coastal South line will produce as it moves.

Frequently asked questions

Is DART+ West approved?

Yes. An Bord Pleanála made the railway order for DART+ West in July 2024. The order authorises the works, the level-crossing closures and the acquisition of the land in its schedule; judicial review had to be sought within eight weeks.

Can I object to DART+?

Only on a line whose application is still open before An Coimisiún Pleanála, during the submission window in the public notice, or at the oral hearing. On a granted line the remaining questions are compensation and the order's construction conditions. Design-stage lines take submissions through Iarnród Éireann's non-statutory consultations.

Will my level crossing close?

DART+ West closes the crossings at Coolmine, Porterstown, Clonsilla, Barberstown and Blakestown and replaces them with bridges or pedestrian links, as set out in the railway order. Other lines' orders list their own; dartplus.ie has the drawings.

Does DART+ appear on the planning register?

No. Each line is consented by a railway order under the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act 2001, made by An Coimisiún Pleanála. Council-run works around stations, under Part 8 or section 38, appear as consultations.

The MetroLink guide explains the railway order in more detail; the BusConnects guide covers the Roads Act route. See the register along the line in the Explorer at Ashtown, or open the Cabra-Glasnevin place page and the Fingal place page for the level-crossing villages.

Figures from the register on 12 September 2026 (live callouts refresh hourly); scheme status checked against dartplus.ie on 12 September 2026. Check with the council or a planning consultant before relying on this.