Ireland - General Information

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Country Name

Republic of Ireland

National Railway System

Iarnród Éireann (IÉ)/Irish rail

National Railway Operator

Iarnród Éireann Railway Undertaking (IÉ-RU).

Language

English is used for most purposes, but the Irish Constitution provides that the Irish Language (also known as Erse) is the first official language. Although Irish is not widely spoken, except in some rural areas, official notices and publications are usually bi-lingual. Public institutions, including the railway, use their Irish name in preference to the English version. Passenger information systems at stations and on trains normally show or announce information in Irish, before doing so in English.

Currency

Euro

UIC Code

numeric 60; alpha IRL

Timetable

Journey Planner

Find Train Times and Buy Tickets

Downloadable Timetable

Printed PDF Timetables

Printed Timetable

IÉ no longer issues any printed timetables or leaflets for public use. 'Working' (i.e staff) timetables are still issued in printed or pdf format.

Engineering Information

Get Live Travel Updates then select the station

Maps

Printed Maps

  • S.K. Baker's "Rail Atlas of Great Britain & Ireland", which is widely available in the UK, shows Irish Railways at 1:1,070,000.
  • A volume of detailed layout plans for the whole of Ireland is published by Quail Map Co.
  • An historical compilation - "Johnson's Atlas & Gazetteer of the Railway of Ireland" (1997) - is now out of print, but worth seeking in second hand bookshops.

Web-based Maps

Ticketing

Irish Rail offers a range of tickets in the Dublin area. However, the Rail/Luas day ticket mentioned on the DART & Short Hop Zone Fares page is no longer available. Travellers wanting this option need to buy a "Leap" Smart Card and load it with sufficient credit as shown in the 'Leap Card Capping' section. This covers Dublin buses and thus offers an alternative to the 747 Express bus to/from the Airport.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure Authority

On 25 March 2013 Iarnród Éireann (IÉ) was restructured into two separate business divisions - Iarnród Éireann Infrastructure Manager (IÉ-IM) and Iarnród Éireann Railway Undertaking (IÉ-RU). IÉ-IM does not appear to have a separate website.

Network Statement

Network Statement

Gauge

1600 mm (5 feet 3 inches)

Electrification

1500 V dc (DART suburban system in Dublin)

Rule of the road

Left.

Distances

Distances are available in Appendix 1 of the Network Statement above. More detailed distances for the former constituent railways are available on the Signalling Record Society website.

Other passenger railways

None

Tourist lines

Some of the more remote lines may be irregular in operation so it is as well to enquire about dates and times of operation before visiting. There are other shorter lines.

Metro

None.

Trams

Dublin (LUAS).

Recent and future changes

The Irish railway system was allowed to deteriorate for many years, but extensive upgrading and modernisation has been carried out on the majority of the passenger system and there have been extensive purchases of new rolling stock (mostly multiple units). The DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) suburban system has been extended to Greystones and Malahide.

Line openings and reopenings - passenger

A weekday commuter service between Kildare and Grand Canal Dock - using the re-opened link between Islandbridge Junction (near Heuston) and Glasnevin Junction - commenced on 21 November 2016. Part of the former line from Clonsilla to Navan re-opened to M3 Parkway station in September 2010. A section of the former Youghal branch line reopened between Glounthaune (formerly Cobh Jn) and Midleton in July 2009 as did [Limerick - ] Ennis - Athenry [ - Galway] in March 2010. A commuter line from Glasnevin Jn to Docklands, in Dublin, opened in March 2007.

However, other mooted (some much publicised) line re-openings are now cancelled.

In the private sector, the 3 foot gauge Waterford & Suir Valley Railway was extended by 2km in July 2010.

Line closures

The transversal lines, Limerick Jn - Waterford; [Limerick - ] Killonan Jn - Roscrea - Ballybrophy, and Ennis - Athenry, are under threat, while even the economics of services on the line south of Gorey have been called into question. These have all been the subject of review by the National Transport Authority (the government appointed body responsible for subvention of loss making passenger services) in their 2016 Rail Review of which the report and consultation documents (available from that link) provide interesting background information.

IÉ withdrew the vestigial Rosslare Strand - Waterford passenger service in September 2010 (there is no freight service over the line which remains in situ but in unusable condition).

A special review of Government expenditure published in July 2009 suggested examination of closure (apparently completely) of the following lines: Limerick Jn - Waterford (excl.) - Rosslare Strand; [Limerick - ] Killonan Jn - Ballybrophy; Manulla Jn - Ballina, and that no further development should take place of Western Rail Corridor beyond the [Limerick - ] Ennis - Athenry [ - Galway] section mentioned above.

The line at Rosslare Europort was cut back in April 2008 - trains now use a very basic platform inconveniently located for the ferry terminal.

Freight

IÉ's freight operations are now limited. Bord na Mona, on the other hand, is one of the largest narrow gauge freight operations in Europe - principally moving peat (turf) traffic to power stations. Indeed, they ceased operating their Clonmacnoise & West Offaly Railway tourist passenger service because of the high volume of peat traffic.

Special notes

In addition to universal "Standard" (formerly Second) class, "City Gold" (formerly First) class is available on most trains between Dublin and Cork, plus a few to and from Tralee, Limerick, Waterford and Galway. "Premium" class (partner NIRailways call it "First plus") is available on principal trains on the international route between Dublin and Belfast.

There are no overnight services in Ireland.

See also