A decision to end direct trains between Wexford and Dublin has ‘absolutely not been made’, Irish Rail has promised. 

The NTA is reportedly considering a curtailment of the route, with passengers for Dublin disembarking at Bray or Greystones in County Wicklow and travelling onto the capital by DART.  

Speaking to Lunchtime Live, Irish Rail spokesperson Barry Kenny said the organisation wants to enable more people to travel by train. 

“We want to build our network to be able to take more trains; that includes more DARTs,” he said. 

“The Rosslare train, people who use it will know because we’ve got a very high frequency service from Bray to Dublin, it tends to back up behind it.

“We’ve six trains each way a day to either Gorey or Wexford or Rosslare. 

“We want to expand all of the trains; in modelling the infrastructure, one of the ways you can do that and get much better frequency is by having an interchange between the Rosslare service and the DART at somewhere like Greystones.” 

Early morning sunlight on the DART platform. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

Mr Kenny said no decision has been made and in the future some trains could terminate in Wicklow, while other continue to travel onto Dublin. 

“It’ll be able to have direct services, it’ll be able to have a mixture of direct and interchange,” he said. 

“The infrastructure modelling says to absolutely squeeze every last bit of capacity out, you would have an interchange. 

“But that decision is absolutely not made. 

Mr Kenny said Irish Rail’s priority is to “run more trains for everybody” and a consultation on the issue will begin this summer. 

Climate targets

Last year’s All Island Rail Review recommended governments in Dublin and Belfast spend €36.8 billion over the next 30 years expanding the railway network. 

The Government is also committed to reducing emissions from transport by 51% by the end of the decade. 

As part of the “ambitious” plan, Irish Rail has committed itself to delivering 80 million passenger journeys by 2030 - nearly double the 50 million taken before the pandemic. 

Main image: Trains at a station. Picture by: PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo/Brian Lawless