High speed train service to cut Cork-Dublin journey time

Irish Rail is to introduce a higher-speed service from Cork to Dublin which will reduce journey times by 15 minutes. A morning non-stop service will be introduced from April with a journey time of two hours and 15 minutes, following the completion of a €10m upgrade of an 80km stretch of line from Kildare to Portlaoise.

The works include removing and replacing up to 80,000 tonnes of stone ballast which will allow trains travel at higher speeds. Irish Rail chief executive David Franks said: “We are investing 10m on track enhancements between Dublin and Cork.
“The ballast disintegrates over time and that dictates the line speeds. The works will enable us in 2016 to have speeds of up to 160kmh.
“Over the next couple of years, we’ll continue that across the route to get journey times down to under two hours.”