Irish Rail warns of Bank Holiday service disruptions

Rail commuters are set for a bank holiday weekend of travel disruption with works curtailing services to and from Connolly and Heuston stations.

Irish Rail has warned of major disruption to northside Dart, Commuter and Enterprise services on Saturday and Sunday due to resignalling works.

The rail line will be closed between Connolly and Malahide/Howth on both days, and rail tickets will be accepted for Dublin Bus.

Services to Dundalk and Drogheda will start from Malahide, and there will be bus transfers between Drogheda and Connolly for users of the Dublin to Belfast Enterprise train.

Southside services will operate to normal schedules.

There will also be revised schedules on all routes to and from Heuston Station on Saturday and Sunday due to line improvement works between Hazelhatch and Portlaoise.

A near-full service will operate from Heuston on Saturday but with reduced frequency and longer journey times, but bus transfers will operate between Heuston and Athy for customers on the Dublin to Waterford line.

This means that all rail services to Dublin will be hit by disruptions on Saturday and Sunday, and Irish Rail has reminded its customers that Dart and Commuter services will broadly operate to a Sunday schedule for bank holiday Monday and there will be a revised schedule for Intercity services.

A bus transfer between Connolly and Drogheda will also be in effect for the 7.35am Enterprise on Monday morning.

Irish Rail said the closure of the northbound Dart line is to facilitate works that will allow for increased frequency of train services and so that it can accommodate trains from the Kildare Commuter line via the Phoenix Park Tunnel later this year.

The improvement works between Hazelhatch and Portlaoise will lead to “higher reliability, smoother running of trains and with other works [WILL]deliver consistent 160kph speeds by the end of 2016 on this section”, the company added.