Iarnród Éireann announce new Dublin service with a Limerick connection

IARNRÓD Éireann has confirmed the creation of a new weekday service from Dublin to Limerick/Cork.

The early service departing from Dublin at 6am, operating Monday to Friday, will arrive in Kent Station, Cork, at 8.32am, giving a pre-9 am intercity arrival from Dublin for the first time. The service which has a connection from Limerick Junction to Limerick, will deliver a pre-8 am arrival time to Limerick city (7.58am).

The new timetable has been approved by the National Transport Authority, and follows public consultation in September 2023, in which over 1,650 customers participated.

Key elements of the new timetables in the Cork and Limerick areas are:

Journey time improvements on many Dublin Heuston to Cork and Limerick services, arising from recent infrastructure works, including an express morning non-stop 2 hours 14 minutes service between Cork and Dublin.

Extra morning peak service each way between Cork and Mallow each day (Monday to Saturday), operating at 7.20am Cork to Mallow, and 7.50am Mallow to Cork

There will also be additional stops on a number of Heuston/Cork services at Portlaoise, to connect with new Heuston/Portlaoise Commuter services.

An Iarnród Éireann spokesperson said: “We are delighted to be in a position to begin an early 6am weekday service from Dublin Heuston to Cork and to introduce a Limerick connection from this service also. We believe this will be a very popular service, with the arrival in Cork well before 9am, and in Limerick before 8am, particularly attractive to business customers.

“We look forward to bringing these improvements to our services in December 2023, which follow previous expansion of services in December 2022. Iarnród Éireann with the National Transport Authority will continue to identify opportunities for further service improvements in the context of post-Covid travel patterns, as demand approaches, and on some routes exceeds, pre-pandemic levels. The purpose of investment in our network, fleet and services is to bring a better service to customers and allow more people to make a sustainable travel choice,” the spokesperson added.