CONNECT

CONNECT plans for significant enhancements to Intercity services across Ireland — increasing service frequency, reducing journey times and supporting the decarbonisation of rail.

CONNECT
More frequent services	Faster journeys	Greener rail
A strategy to improve Intercity service frequency and provide a stronger rail offer between cities and regions.	A programme pathway to assess journey-time reductions and identify deliverable infrastructure interventions.	A long-term approach to decarbonise Intercity rail through electrification and alternative traction.

Intercity Enhancements, People first, Nationally aligned

CONNECT strategy is to increase service frequency, reduce journey times and decarbonise.

Not just about trains, CONNECT is all about people, connecting people with people and with places, transforming how we move, work and live. It contributes to Ireland’s national strategic outcomes – sustainable mobility, compact growth, enabling housing at scale, accessibility for all and regional balance.

Delivering core components of Rail2050, aligned with the All-Island Strategic Rail Review and National Development Plan 2021–2030, with funding from the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility and Department of Transport, CONNECT is a cornerstone of Ireland’s long-term rail investment strategy.

CONNECT means...

Connecting people through frequent, faster, reliable rail journeys.
Connecting national and regional rail strategies into a single delivery pathway.
Connecting early-stage project development with long-term system transformation.
CONNECT progressing Rail2050 from vision into actionable, deliverable interventions.

CONNECT is focused on delivering National Strategic Outcomes:

CONNECT is focused on delivering National Strategic Outcomes:
National rail decarbonisation Through 25 kV AC electrification and alternative traction.	Reduced journey times Towards a target of 90 minutes between regional cities, Belfast and Dublin.
Frequency and capacity Doubling Intercity service frequency while adding capacity.	Long-term resilience Upgrading infrastructure for long-term network resilience.

CONNECT: Transforming Journey Times

Rail2050 recommended significant journey time reductions across the intercity network, for improved connectivity and rail competitiveness. It suggested target journey times of 90 minutes between each regional city and Dublin.

CONNECT has now assessed how these times will be achieved, looking at all InterCity lines at a high level, then focusing on the Cork/Limerick – Dublin lines to understand how it can be delivered for this corridor. Its’ assessments to-date indicate significant reductions can be achieved through ‘on-line only’ interventions within the existing railway boundary, represented by the yellow bars on this figure. Further reductions will be achievable with works beyond the existing railway property line and the new Portarlington to Hazelhatch alignment.

CONNECT’s achievable Cork–Dublin journey times could be reduced to 110 minutes with online interventions only.

Click here for a larger version of this graphic.

CONNECT: Decarbonising rail

Today, less than 3% of Ireland’s rail network is electrified, compared with an average of 55% across the EU. This creates a challenge to decarbonising. Rail2050 recommended a high-level approach towards decarbonisation, involving electrification of all lines between regional cities ad Dublin.

This was also recommended by the AISRR and more recently by the Rail Project Prioritisation Strategy. CONNECT is now studying this in greater detail with its emerging approach validating what has been recommended by those earlier reports. The future suggested network is presented by the map here.

CONNECT outputs could support electrification across Intercity lines and inform the future national rail decarbonisation pathway.

Click here for a larger version of this map.

What will CONNECT shape?

What will CONNECT shape?
Connectivity Strategy to connect people, cities and regions through a faster, modernised Intercity network.	Continuity A long-term pathway for delivering rail improvements for the future.	Carbon Reduction Cleaner, sustainable rail travel supporting Ireland’s decarbonisation goals.
Competitiveness Modal shift to boost regional accessibility and economic performance.	Coordination Rail2050, AISRR and the NDP aligned into a single delivery pathway.	Comprehensive Assessments National network and TEN-T corridor assessments to identify key opportunities.