Iarnród Éireann Strategy
Rail2050 – Rethinking rail for a growing Ireland
Ireland is growing, with more people, jobs and housing adding to transport demand, while climate change requires us to live and move about more sustainably. Rail is contributing to Ireland as it grows.
Iarnród Éireann’s vision is for ‘rail to be the backbone of sustainable transport for Ireland’.
A vision that connects more people, businesses and communities to rail and its sustainable benefits.
Rail2050 articulates this vision. It is Iarnród Éireann’s corporate strategy for the coming decades, providing direction for the organisation and its engagements with all stakeholders over the years to 2050. Aligned with Ireland’s transport policies and strategies it is focused on delivering National Development Plan rail enhancements and the recommendations of the All-Island Strategic Rail Review.
Principally Rail2050 will build from the existing rail network, integrate with land use planning, and
- Increase service frequencies
- Reduce journey times
- Increase capacity
- Decarbonise rail transport
- While adding new rail connections
Rail2050 sees rail as an integral part of a fully accessible transport system, one with people at its’ centre: those that will use it services over the decades ahead and those involved in delivering it. This strategy places customers at its’ centre and commits to delivering a rail system that is flexible, frequent, faster, friendly to use, feasible to deliver, fully accessible and freer of carbon.
It focuses on developing the existing four types of rail service – Urban, Intercity, Regional and Freight – while further integrating with other public and active travel modes.
- Urban – initially doubling capacity and trebling electrification in the Dublin area by delivering the DART+ Programme, then transforming connectivity with a cross-city tunnel, linking all lines, north to south, east to west, while expanding the DART network still further. Bringing a high capacity, electrified, metro type rail system to Cork, through the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme, with capacity enhancements on existing lines in Limerick and Galway cities
- Intercity – doubling service frequencies across all lines, to at least hourly between cities and two hourly on all other lines, while significantly reducing journey times, adding capacity and decarbonising through electrification and renewable energy usage – all aligned with the Rail Project Prioritisation Strategy by the Department of Transport and Department for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland)
- Regional – building regional networks centered on our cities of Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway, with frequent and attractive rail services on existing and new lines, enhancing connectivity, supporting accessibility, housing supply, regional growth and balance
- Freight – placing rail at the centre of a sustainable freight transport and modern logistics system, supporting supply chains, the economy and environment and enhancing international connectivity through the ports of Dublin, Cork, Foynes, Waterford and Rosslare Europort
Rosslare Europort will be further developed, modernising its service offer as a leading connection with European and United Kingdom destinations, developing as an Offshore Renewable Energy hub and reinstating rail connectivity with the regional cities of Waterford, Limerick and Galway.
Rail2050 brings together the thinking of stakeholders from across Ireland, aligns with national transport policies, learns from other countries across Europe and beyond and gives a framework to guide all future enhancements. Taken with the All-Island Strategic Rail Review, the Rail Project Prioritisation Strategy and broader transport policies, the strategy for developing Ireland’s railway over the decades ahead has been prepared. It is now all about implementation. Join us on this journey as together we build an accessible, sustainable and customer centred transport system for a growing and modern Ireland.
For information on:
Iarnród Éireann Mission
- Delivering transport services that continually meet Our Customers' requirements and help drive Ireland's economic development.
Iarnród Éireann Vision
- Rail as the backbone of a sustainable transport system for Ireland
Iarnród Éireann our Beliefs and Values
- Always Safe: As a railway operator, Safety is our number one priority. We commit to providing a safe railway environment for our customers and our people.
- Customers At The Heart Of The Business: Our customers are central to everything that we do and our objective is to provide them with the best possible service at all times.
- Valuing Our People: At Iarnród Éireann we want our people to enjoy coming to work every day and ensure that they are fulfilled in their current roles and have the support and tools to grow their career. We do this through providing opportunity, training, development programmes, support and equality programmes for all colleagues which values their contribution throughout the organisation.
- Iarnród Éireann One Team: There are over 5,200 employees at Iarnród Éireann who work in diverse roles but to a common goal: to provide a great service for our customers. The roles may be varied and geographically distant, but we all work together as one team.
- Proud of Our Past - Passionate about Our Future: We are proud of our rich railway heritage, including beautiful architecture and a rich history of which we are custodians for future generations. We also have many families that have worked for generations on the railway. We are also a forward looking company that is passionate about developing our services, network and infrastructure to meet the expanding needs of our customers.
- Sustainability in Motion: We in Iarnród Éireann place sustainability at the heart of our railway and port infrastructure and service delivery by helping to create a more resilient, socially inclusive society and by reducing our environmental impacts. Our Sustainability in Motion strategy reflects our deep understanding of the responsibilities we have to our communities and to our planet.
