Iarnród Éireann is proposing that the central focus of investment plans for the national Intercity network in the revised transport investment programme be targeted at improving speeds on the country’s long-distance rail lines.
The company’s long-term goal is to reduce journey times on all Intercity journeys between Dublin and the country’s major cities (Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford ) to two hours or less.
The first step towards this goal is to prioritise the Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Galway routes from 2012 to 2016, to reduce journey times by approximately 30 minutes on these Intercity routes during this timescale.
As well as significantly improving the competitiveness of journey times on both Dublin-Cork and Dublin-Galway routes, customers travelling to and from Limerick, Kerry, and Mayo would also benefit as major sections of these journeys (Dublin-Limerick Junction for Limerick, Dublin-Mallow for Kerry, and Dublin-Athlone for Mayo ) would see line speeds improve.
The Dublin to Westport/Ballina journey time improvements would be of 22 minutes (from typical current journey times of three hours 25 to 30 minutes ).
