Thousands on move for bank holiday weekend

Thousands of people will be on the move throughout the State over the weekend.

It was a bad start for rail commuters when a major signalling fault caused disruption and delays on the Dart, Northern and Maynooth, as well as Belfast and Sligo lines. Services were suspended for a short time, causing knock-on delays.

However, the fault has now been fixed, and services are expected to be running as normal.

Iarnród Éireann expects up to 200,000 people to travel by Intercity rail over the bank holiday, with extra services laid on at key times. Passengers are advised to check times before travelling, as an alternative timetable is in place.

Tickets for GAA special trains on tomorrow and Sunday are sold out, as are regular services from Cork and Kerry on Saturday morning, and Cork and Waterford on Sunday morning.

Bus Éireann is also expecting to carry large numbers of passengers this weekend, with 200,000 predicted to travel. It will also be operating special services to and from the Hi-Fi music festival in Belvedere House, Mullingar. All tickets must be bought in advance.

A shuttle service will also operate to and from Galway Races, which continue until Sunday.

AA Roadwatch advises that traffic around the Ballybrit course will be heavy.

Over 370,000 passengers are expected to pass through Dublin airport this weekend, a 14 per cent rise on the same period last year.

Over 2,270 flights will arrive and depart over the bank holiday, and passengers are advised to check-in at least 90 minutes before flight departure time.

However, the airport authorities are also requesting that passengers do not arrive at the airport hours in advance of their flight departure time.