Dec 12
Meet our customer service award winners!
This week, we presented Customer Service awards to our staff in a range of areas, reward those members of the Iarnród Éireann team who excelled in high standards of customer care.
Dec 6
Days Out this Christmas! Festive fun ideas taking place around Ireland for you and the family.
There's plenty of festive family events taken place around Ireland this Christmas. Here's just ideas of how to entertain the family over the holiday and we can get you there!
Nov 30
Carols for Commuters this Christmas!
This Christmas, we're supporting St. Michaels House one of the largest providers of services to people with an intellectual disability in Ireland, who are bringing some Christmas cheers to Connolly and Heuston Stations!
Oct 16
Days (and weekends!) Out by Rail October Bank Holiday special! Comedy, Jazz plus lots more festival ideas for October!
There are festivals galore taking place all over Ireland this month, and particularly around the October bank holiday weekend. All can be reached by train and hopefully they can help brighten your weekend!
Oct 15
A night at the blog awards
Woo-hoo, we won Best Corporate Blog at Blog Awards Ireland 2012. We report on the Irish blogosphere's big night out....
Oct 12
The Great Race
The Irish Examiner sent three of their journalists from Cork city to the Spire in Dublin's O'Connell Street, one each by train, bus and car. See how they got on....
Oct 2
Be-leaf it or not! Autumn leaf fall – why it affects train services, and what we do to reduce the impact
It's seen as a joke, a made-up excuse - we know, we know! But autumn leaf fall is a real issue for railways internationally. Pat Casey, Operations Performance and Control Manager, talks about low rail adhesion, and how we address it.
Aug 21
Days out by Rail - Dublin Tall Ships Special, Thurs 23rd to Sun 26th August
What a weekend ahead in Dublin, with the Tall Ships Race 2012 arriving in town. Whether you're in the Dublin area, or around the country, we have family tickets to get you to and from this amazing festival stress-free.
Aug 16
Days out by Rail - It's War of the Roses in Tralee this week!
This week we're off to the Kingdom of Kerry, final destination Tralee! Tralee will certainly be in bloom this week as the Rose of Tralee festival gets underway.
Aug 7
Days Out by Rail - This week it's Kilkenny, a city of Arts, Sport and much more!
One of Ireland’s most popular tourist destinations is Kilkenny City. Full of heritage, music, theatre, sport and lots more attractions, Kilkenny is a city that should definitely be added to your day out plans this summer.
Aug 1
Days Out by Rail - We're on the Way to Waterford!
We're heading to Ireland's oldest city for this Bank Holiday weekend. The citys' main festival Spraoi has something for all the family and is the great way to spend the extra long weekend!
Jul 26
Days out by Rail - all go in Galway!
Galway is festival city during the summer, so it's an ideal destination to visit with our great family offers. From the Arts Festival to the Galway races, and with loads of attractions, go West today!
Jul 23
Protests over on-board announcements
Today's protest by visually impaired customers over poor automated announcements highlights a long-standing problem. Peter Smyth, Iarnród Éireann's Chief Mechanical Engineer, explains the issues and the actions being taken to address them.
Jul 18
Family Days Out by Rail
There's still a month and a half left in the summer, and while the weather might not be guaranteed, things to do around Ireland are. Railway Lines over the rest of the summer will bring you ideas on great days out by rail, that are easy on the pocket as well. Beginning in the Dublin area....
Jun 20
Homeward bound - Gary returns from Poland. The final Euro 2012 InterRail blog.
Gary returns from Poland, and needless to say, it was anything but straightforward! Our final blog also looks back at the sights and sounds of the past two weeks.
Jun 18
Legends of Irish Football - Euro 2012 Blog, the penultimate edition!
Gary meets Mick McCarthy and another legend of Irish football, as Poznan gets set to bid the Irish fans a fond farewell, and the lads get set for the Italy game.
Jun 17
Roy's rant and the storm of the century
The fans take in the latest Roy Keane outburst, and watch Poland follow Ireland out of the tournament. And then the heavens opened.... it's the Euro 2012 blog.
Jun 16
The End is Near and the English conundrum - Gary O'Reilly's Euro 2012 blog
A quiet Poznan reviews the reaction to the Spain game, and Gary watches the England game hoping for a Three Lions win - for complex reasons!
Jun 15
Irlandais, nil points. The worst team in the competition, the best fans in the world.
The fans are back from Gdansk, with despair at the football, but pride in their own performance. Gary O'Reilly's Euro 2012 blog, after the Spain hammering.
Jun 13
Polska! Polska! Swapping the Green for the Red against a new "Auld Enemy": Euro 2012 Blog Day 7
Gary and Kenna are persuaded to go Polish for the night. Free food and bar had nothing to do with it. The latest chapter from the best Euro 2012 fan blog.
Jun 12
Escape to Victory! Euro 2012 blog, day 6
Gary's escaped the campsite, and the Poznan mood is upbeat again! An encounter with Hector, a Fr Jack-a-like, and the Irish become Polish fans for a night. Our latest instalment of the fans' eye view of the Euros!
Jun 11
"It wasn't supposed to be like this...." Ireland v Croatia, Euro 2012 blog, day 5
Elation and despair, at the match and elsewhere. And that Andy Gray photo! It's the latest chapter from Poland.
Jun 10
Carlsberg don't do campsites, but if they did....
....they'd be the worst in the world. Outsinging the Croatians on the Berlin to Poznan train, treated like celebrities at Poznan Station, mixing with celebrities there too, but the campsite reveals that not everything does what it says on the tin. But hope and optimism are building ahead of tonight's Croatian clash.
It's day 4 of Gary O'Reilly's Euro 2012 blog.
Jun 9
Berlin - Downfall 2012. Euro 2012 blog - part 3
Gary's about to leave Berlin for Poznan, but not before seeing the sights (sort of!), and being swept up in a tide of humanity descending on Berlin Boerse..... will the German capital ever be the same again?
Jun 8
"An aerial view of Europe today would look like an army of green ants invading Poland, and we have them surrounded" - Euro 2012 blog, day 2!
Gary's made it as far as Berlin, but not without some unintentional diversions en route. Picking up friends along the way, landing at a hostel besieged by Irish fans, the atmosphere is building....
Jun 7
Gary O'Reilly's Euro 2012 blog - Here we go!
Gary O'Reilly, winner of our InterRail trip to Euro 2012, will be blogging throughout his journey and the tournament for us. He was beyond excited to win... but then he had to decide who to bring with him....
May 15
And the winner of the Euro 2012 competition is.....
We've sifted through the entries, including loads of really strong ones, and we have a winner..... Our guest blogger for Euro 2012, heading there by InterRail to see all of Ireland's group games is.....
May 1
Working on the railway lines - why service disruption is sometimes unavoidable
This weekend's signalling works will affect Northside DART, Northern commuter and Belfast Enterprise services. Tourism and business interests are understandably concerned at the impact on their business. Don Cunningham, Assistant Chief Executive Engineering, outlines his thoughts on the issues faced.
Apr 10
Punctuality and reliability
We’ve just recorded our strongest ever quarter for punctuality on the rail network in Ireland. Statistics like that tend to prompt all sorts of reactions, so Ronan Kelly, our Train Performance Manager, gives us some background to the punctuality and reliability stats.
Apr 2
Titanic and the Cobh railway line
Just weeks after the Cobh rail line celebrated its 150th anniversary, the eyes of the world will be on Cobh next week as it marks the centenary of the RMS Titanic’s maiden – and only - voyage.
Mar 1
40 years of InterRail!
Can you believe it? Forty years ago today, on 1st March 1972, a new product - the InterRail pass - was introduced on a temporary basis to allow young people travel Europe. It was so popular, it's still with us today. It's got us all nostalgic - and if you're the same, and you want a chance to ride the rails of Europe, share your InterRail memories - or dream InterRail trip you're planning - to be in with a chance of a free InterRail pass.
Feb 21
Live streaming of Rail Vision 2030 - a seminar on the future of rail transport in Ireland
On 22nd February, Iarnród Éireann hosts a major seminar - Rail Vision 2030, The future of Rail Transport in Ireland.
Speakers include the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar TD, the Chief Executive of Iarnród Éireann, Dick Fearn, the Chief Executive of National Transport Authority Gerry Murphy, and Bernard Feeney of AECOM presenting a major study on Strategic Rail Investment Needs up to 2030.
See it streamed live here from 08.30 to 11.30.
Feb 20
Introducing.....
.....Railway Lines, our new irishrail.ie blog! Our aim is to give you more information – on our plans, our services, on what goes on behind the scenes, and on issues of concern to you, and to hear what our customers think. We have quite a few ideas of different topics we think you might be interested in. However, we’d love for you to tell us what you’d like to see covered, so we can make sure this blog is as relevant and informative for you as possible.
