New timetable from 10th December 2023
05 December 2023
Iarnród Éireann in conjunction with the National Transport Authority has confirmed details of a new timetable from 10th December 2023, following public consultation on a draft timetable in September 2023.
Details of the new timetable are on our journey planner, as are Christmas and New Year service arrangements, and bookings are now available also.
Click here to search times for your route on our Journey Planner
Highlights of the new timetables are:
New Services
-
Additional 06:00hrs Dublin Heuston to Cork service (Monday to Friday) arriving at 08:32hrs, giving a pre-09:00hrs arrival to Cork city, with a connection at Limerick Junction for a pre-08:00hrs arrival to Limerick.
- Additional 12:20hrs Dublin Heuston to Carlow and 15:15hrs Carlow to Dublin Heuston service daily (Monday to Friday)
- Additional 16:20hrs Westport to Athlone and 21:08hrs Athlone to Westport service daily (Monday to Friday), providing connections to/from Dublin Heuston at Athlone.
- Connection from/to Ballina to the new 21:08hrs Athlone to Westport above.
- Significant expansion to Heuston to Portlaoise Commuter Sunday services, with 8 additional Commuter services from Portlaoise to Heuston, and 7 from Heuston to Portlaoise, extending existing Heuston/Kildare services; there will also be additional stops on a number of Heuston/Cork services at Portlaoise, to connect with these Commuter services
- Morning peak service each way between Cork and Mallow, operating at 07:20hrs Cork to Mallow, and 07:50hrs Mallow to Cork
- Additional 12:20hrs, 13:27hrs and 14:20hrs Dublin Connolly to Drogheda, and 11:40hrs and 12:40hrs Drogheda to Dublin Connolly services (Mon to Fri)
Additional stops on existing services
- Four Heuston to Cork and five Cork to Heuston services on Sundays will additionally serve Portlaoise, to provide connections to the enhanced Portlaoise Commuter service
- 19:35hrs Dublin Heuston to Galway (Mon to Sat) and 18:45hrs Heuston to Galway (Sunday) will additionally serve Clara, providing a later final service to Clara.
- 06:25hrs Galway to Dublin Heuston (Mon to Sat) will additionally serve Ballinasloe
Journey time and other significant timetable changes
- Kishoge Station will open in 2024 with local Heuston & Phoenix Park Tunnel services serving this station. This timetable has made provision in train timings for the future opening of this station at Kishogue.
- Journey time improvements on many Dublin Heuston to Cork and Limerick services, arising from recent infrastructure works.
- Significant changes to Saturday and Sunday DART timetables to improve performance, with time changes resulting on other routes to/from Dublin Connolly as a result
- A number of other minor schedule alterations to improve punctuality.
Public consultation report
Thank you to 1,652 customers who participated in our recent consultation, for our proposed new timetable from Sunday 10th December 2023.
We received feedback on every route, right across the network, and following review with the National Transport Authority, the timetable has now been finalised.
Analysis of the feedback shows:
- General sentiment towards the timetable is positive, with 74% of those who expressed an opinion being positively disposed, whether further suggested changes were made or not.
- 54% of comments related to the Intercity network, with Commuter seeing 23% and DART 12%
| Market | Sum of Mentions | % of Mentions |
|---|---|---|
| Intercity | 892 | 54% |
| Commuter | 381 | 23% |
| Regional | 195 | 12% |
| DART | 79 | 5% |
| General network | 54 | 3% |
| Enterprise | 51 | 3% |
| Grand Total | 1652 | 100% |
- The top five themes amongst customers seeking changes to the proposed timetable, accounting for 75% of all such responses, were:
- More services
- Later services
- Earlier services
- Add stop(s) to existing services
- Increase off-peak services
A number of changes to the draft proposals have been incorporated as a result of your feedback and further engagement with the NTA. These include:
- Better connection from Limerick for new 06:00 Heuston/Cork
- New 06:55 Limerick/Limerick Jctn. and 07:31 Limerick Jctn./Limerick services will be introduced on Monday to Friday.
- These services will connect at Limerick Jctn. with the new 06:00 Heuston/Cork service.
- Thus, providing a new pre-08.00 arrival into Limerick from Dublin, Thurles, Limerick Jctn., Charleville, Mallow and Cork and also providing a pre-09.00 arrival into Cork for customers from Limerick.
- 20:15 Heuston to Carlow & 21.37 Carlow to Heuston will now also operate on Saturdays.
- Reduce connection time between 05.30 ex Dundalk and the following DART service.
- A new 06:59 Connolly/Bray service will be introduced Monday – Friday to reduce the gap in service for customers travelling beyond Grand Canal Dock from 17 minutes to 9 minutes.
- Improve connection between first Drogheda Commuter and first DART at Connolly on Sundays.
- The 07:55 Drogheda/Connolly on Sunday will be advanced to 07:50 and arrive in Connolly at 08:47, thus giving a 6-minute connection into the 08:53 Connolly/Greystones DART service.
- 15:23 Connolly/Drogheda (Mon-Fri) to operate at 15.27 instead for faster journey time
- Defer 10.17 Connolly/Drogheda on Sundays to 10.20 for faster journey time.
- Add Banteer to 05:45 Tralee/Cork (Tues to Fri) – this was originally 05:50, but will be advanced to 05:45 and will now additionally serve Farranfore, Rathmore and Banteer.
- Earlier first service Limerick Jctn./ Limerick
- Earlier first service Limerick/Cork
- Add Adamstown and Monasterevin to 05.40 ex Portlaoise – this service (Mon to Fri) will now be advanced to 05.33 and will serve all stations between Portlaoise and Heuston including Monasterevin and Adamstown. It will arrive in Heuston at 06:42, 5 mins later than present as a result.
- 05:40 Portlaoise/Heuston to operate on Saturdays
It was not possible to address a number of requested changes in this consultation due to available driver and fleet resources.
However, Iarnród Éireann will review these requests as more drivers become available in 2024 and beyond, particularly in the context of the feedback summarised above. Specifically, we plan improvements on both Dublin/Belfast and Dublin/Galway routes during 2024.
A full summary of the top 50 response topics in the consultation is provided below.
| No. | Topic | % of Comments | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Increase service level on Rosslare line | 5.5% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. This option will be kept under review and considered with the introduction of new fleet |
| 2 | Happy with new Mayo services | 4.9% | Noted |
| 3 | Later last service to Waterford | 3.7% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating later evening services on all InterCity routes. |
| 4 | Not happy with proposed change in times to 15.10 Heuston/Waterford at Carlow | 3.7% | ADDRESSED: Train departure time from Carlow will remain unchanged. |
| 5 | Increase service level on Nenagh line | 3.5% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 6 | Happy with new 06.00 Heuston/Cork | 3.5% | Noted |
| 7 | Increase service level on Clonmel Line | 2.3% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 8 | Earlier first Enterprise service | 2.1% | It is proposed to implement timetable enhancements including an earlier first service in both directions during 2024. |
| 9 | Happy with timetable | 2.1% | Noted |
| 10 | Later last service to Portlaoise | 2.1% | Due to limited track maintenance time it is not currently possible to provide a later service. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate opportunities of operating later evening services. |
| 11 | Increase weekend DART to/from Greystones | 1.9% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating increased weekend service at the earliest opportunity |
| 12 | Increase DART frequency to/from Greystones | 1.8% | Due to limited track capacity on the single line section between Bray and Greystones, it is not possible to currently increase weekday service levels. |
| 13 | Increase service level on Waterford Line | 1.7% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 14 | Earlier first service to Sligo | 1.5% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating such a service in the future. |
| 15 | Additional service for Westport between 14:45 and 18:15 | 1.4% | While an additional service will operate in the late evening from Dublin to Westport, staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for a further mid-afternoon service in December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 16 | Earlier first service to Waterford | 1.4% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 17 | Add Portlaoise to 06.00 Heuston/Cork | 1.3% | This service is being implemented to provide a first InterCity service for arrival into Cork pre-09.00. To additionally serve Portlaoise would create negatively impact existing services/connections at Limerick Jctn. |
| 18 | Add Portlaoise to 18.00 Heuston/Cork | 1.3% | Not possible to add Portlaoise to this service as it would create a capacity issue on this service. |
| 19 | Improve train/ferry connections at Rosslare | 1.3% | While some of our services do provide connections to/from ferry services, the most significant demand on the route is the larger Commuter and Intercity customer market along the Rosslare line, which would be negatively impacted by changes to facilitate ferries. In considering future additional services on Rosslare line (see point 1 above), possible ferry connections will be examined. |
| 20 | Later last service to Cobh/Midleton | 1.3% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating later evening services. |
| 21 | Improve journey times on Rosslare line | 1.2% | As the vast majority of the route is single line, together with the requirement to operate through the high-frequency DART network, there is very little scope currently to improve existing journey times. |
| 22 | Additional service Drogheda/Dundalk between 16:00 and 18:00 | 1.1% | It is proposed to implement timetable enhancements on the Enterprise service during 2024 which will address this requirement. |
| 23 | Happy with new Sunday Portlaoise Commuter | 1.1% | Noted |
| 24 | Later last service to Carlow | 1.0% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating later evening services. |
| 25 | Later last service to Galway | 1.0% | It is proposed to implement timetable enhancements on the Dublin/Galway route during 2024 which will address this requirement. |
| 26 | Weekend PPT service | 1.0% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating such a service. |
| 27 | Increase PPT service level to Sallins/Newbridge | 0.9% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 28 | Increase service level on WRC | 0.9% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 29 | Later last service to Kilkenny | 0.9% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating later evening services on all InterCity routes. |
| 30 | Re-open South Wexford | 0.9% | Currently being considered under the Government's All Ireland Strategic Rail Review |
| 31 | Improve journey times on Sligo line | 0.8% | As the vast majority of the route is single line, together with the requirement to operate through the Dublin/Maynooth Commuter network, there is very little scope currently to improve existing journey times. |
| 32 | Introduce 20.00 Heuston/Cork | 0.7% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating such a service. |
| 33 | Later last service to Mallow/Charleville | 0.7% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating later evening services. |
| 34 | Add Portlaoise to 08.00 Heuston/Cork | 0.7% | Adding Portlaoise to this service would negatively impact on the journey time for this service, which is already has one of the longer journey times on the Heuston to Cork route. |
| 35 | Extend 20.15 Heuston/Carlow to Kilkenny | 0.7% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating later evening services on all InterCity routes. |
| 36 | Increase service level to/from Dundalk | 0.7% | It is proposed to implement timetable enhancements on the Enterprise service during 2024 which will address this requirement. |
| 37 | Later last service from Galway | 0.7% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating later evening services on all InterCity routes. |
| 38 | Add Banteer to 05:50 Tralee/Cork | 0.6% | ADDRESSED: 05:50 Tralee/Cork will be advanced to 05:45 and will now additionally serve Farranfore, Rathmore & Banteer. |
| 39 | Extend SHZ to Drogheda | 0.6% | Fare regulation issue for NTA, not within scope of timetable consultation. |
| 40 | Increase service level on Dublin/Sligo | 0.6% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 41 | Increase service level on Northern Commuter | 0.6% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 42 | Later last train Dublin/Cork | 0.6% | Driver resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites of operating later evening services on all InterCity routes. |
| 43 | Operate connection from Wexford for 22.10 Gorey/Connolly | 0.6% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 44 | Improve bus/train connections | 0.5% | IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites to improve connections |
| 45 | Increase service level at Attymon | 0.5% | Will be reviewed as part of the timetable enhancements on the Dublin/Galway route during 2024. |
| 46 | Later last service from Waterford | 0.5% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 47 | More direct Dublin/Tralee trains | 0.5% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 48 | Reduce connection time at Mallow for Kerry line | 0.5% | IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites to improve connection times at Mallow |
| 49 | Sunday service on Clonmel line | 0.5% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |
| 50 | 04.30 Tralee/Mallow to operate all week | 0.4% | Staff and fleet resources not available for implementation for December 2023. Train and driver are currently utilised to operate the 05:50 Tralee/Cork service for the rest of the week. IÉ in conjunction with the NTA will continue to investigate possibilites for implementation at a later stage |