ICR Train – Iarnród Éireann (21568710462) · Alessandro Ambrosetti · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
Iarnrod Eireann has published service alterations for engineering works between Kildare and Portlaoise on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, and the changes fall hardest on the two routes that do not run through the worksite at all.
Cork services keep running, as a bus from Dublin Heuston to Portlaoise and a train from Portlaoise onward. Tralee and Limerick lose their direct services entirely and become connections off the Cork trains.
Anyone planning a weekend across Ireland from Dublin should read the route they booked rather than the route they usually take, because the workaround differs by destination.
- When: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September 2026.
- Where: engineering works between Kildare and Portlaoise.
- Cork: bus from Dublin Heuston to Portlaoise, train from Portlaoise to Cork.
- Tralee: direct services cancelled, every two hours connecting off Cork services at Mallow, with a 25 to 30 minute delay from Mallow onward.
- Limerick: direct services cancelled, every two hours connecting off Cork services at Limerick Junction.
Which Routes Lose What
The operator’s upcoming line improvement works page sets the weekend out route by route rather than as a single closure, and the distinction matters because the three answers are genuinely different.
Cork services are not cancelled. They are split: a bus covers Dublin Heuston to Portlaoise, and a train covers Portlaoise to Cork. The journey completes, in two parts, on the same ticket.
Tralee is the route that changes shape. Direct services are cancelled. What replaces them runs every two hours, connecting to and from the Cork services at Mallow, and the operator states a delay of 25 to 30 minutes from Mallow to Tralee.
Limerick follows the same pattern with a different junction. Direct services are cancelled, and the replacement runs every two hours connecting to and from the Cork services at Limerick Junction.
Two hourly is the number to sit with. A route that normally offers a choice of departures becomes one that offers a decision, and missing a connection at Mallow or Limerick Junction is not a twenty minute problem.
The Bus Is at the Dublin End, Not the Country End
There is a habit of assuming the road transport in an engineering weekend sits out in the countryside near the work. Here it is the opposite.
The worksite is between Kildare and Portlaoise, so the bus covers the first leg out of Dublin Heuston. A passenger travelling to Cork boards a bus in the capital and a train in the midlands.
That inverts the usual planning instinct. The uncertain, slower part of the journey is at the start, when a missed departure costs the whole chain, rather than at the end when it costs only the last few miles.
It also means the crowd is concentrated. Every Cork, Limerick and Tralee passenger leaving Dublin that weekend is funnelled through the same road transfer, which is a different experience from a bus that picks up a handful of people at a rural station.
A Connection Is Not a Through Train
The word connection is doing a lot of quiet work in this notice, and it is worth unpacking for anyone who has not travelled this way before.
A direct Tralee service is one seat from Dublin. What runs on 19 and 20 September is a Cork service you leave at Mallow, followed by a wait, followed by a second train that the operator itself says will arrive 25 to 30 minutes later than usual.
For a traveller with luggage, a bicycle, a pushchair or a mobility need, that is two additional transfers on top of the bus at the Dublin end. The operator publishes passenger assistance arrangements, and a weekend like this is exactly when booking it in advance stops being optional.
For everyone else the practical consequence is margin. A connection that works on paper works on the day only if the first leg is punctual, and the first leg is a bus on a Saturday.
The Following Weekend Is Larger, and Earlier
The same page carries a second set of works for Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September, between Heuston and Hazelhatch and between Ballybrophy and Thurles, and Saturday 26 is the more disruptive of the two weekends.
On that Saturday every Dublin Heuston to Cork departure from 07:00 through to 21:00 becomes a bus transfer to Thurles with a train onward, and the bus leaves roughly 50 minutes before the train time printed on the ticket. The 08:00 departure, for instance, becomes a bus at 07:10.
That is the single most expensive detail in either weekend. A passenger who arrives at Heuston for an 08:00 train on 26 September arrives fifty minutes after their transport left.
In the other direction, Cork to Heuston services that day operate to Thurles only, with bus transfers onward. Several Limerick services are cancelled outright, including four morning Limerick to Heuston departures and the 15:30 Heuston to Limerick.
Friday 25 September is comparatively light: the 19:00 Heuston to Cork is deferred to 19:15, and the 20:48 Limerick Junction to Limerick to 21:02.
What the Notice Does Not Settle
The operator publishes the pattern and stops short of the specifics a traveller would want confirmed.
For the 19 and 20 September weekend there is no departure by departure timetable, no stated journey time for the Heuston to Portlaoise bus, and no indication of which intermediate stations the bus serves.
There is also nothing on whether the two hourly Tralee and Limerick pattern holds across both days equally, or whether the first and last services of the day differ.
What is fixed is enough to choose a departure: the dates, the section under works, the mode for each leg, the interchange stations, and a stated delay figure on the Tralee leg. The rest lives in the journey planner, which is where the operator points.
Checking It, and the Rest of the Weekend
Iarnrod Eireann directs passengers to its journey planner for full details, and the national planner at Transport for Ireland carries the same rail data alongside the bus and local link services that may cover a gap the train no longer does.
Check the specific departure rather than the route, because on both weekends some services are amended, some are replaced by road for part of the way, and some are cancelled, and only the departure tells you which.
Dublin has a second set of changes the same month worth reading if the trip starts or ends at the airport. Deep Arrival covered the Dublin Airport road closures from 12 September, which affect the drive rather than the rails but land in the same fortnight.
If the trip is a city break rather than a transfer, the good news is that none of this touches Dublin itself. Our guide to where to stay in Dublin is organised by what you can reach on foot, which is the relevant question on a weekend when the trains out of town are complicated.
| If you are travelling… | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Dublin to Cork, 19 or 20 September | Bus from Heuston to Portlaoise, train from Portlaoise to Cork. The journey completes in two legs. |
| Dublin to Tralee, 19 or 20 September | No direct service. Two hourly, connecting off the Cork service at Mallow, with a stated 25 to 30 minute delay from Mallow. |
| Dublin to Limerick, 19 or 20 September | No direct service. Two hourly, connecting off the Cork service at Limerick Junction. |
| Dublin to Cork, Saturday 26 September | Your bus to Thurles leaves about 50 minutes before your booked train time. Arrive for the bus, not the train. |
| Travelling with luggage or needing assistance | Both weekends add transfers. Book passenger assistance in advance rather than on the day. |
Cork is amended, Tralee and Limerick are cancelled. The workaround depends on the destination, not the route.
The bus is at the Dublin end. The slower leg comes first, so a missed departure costs the whole chain.
26 September is the trap. Buses leave Heuston roughly 50 minutes before the printed train time.
Are Cork trains cancelled on 19 September?
No. Cork services run as a bus between Dublin Heuston and Portlaoise and as a train between Portlaoise and Cork.
What happens to Tralee services?
Direct services are cancelled. Services run every two hours connecting to and from the Cork services at Mallow, with a delay of 25 to 30 minutes from Mallow to Tralee.
What happens to Limerick services?
Direct services are cancelled. Services run every two hours connecting to and from the Cork services at Limerick Junction.
Is the following weekend affected too?
Yes. Works between Heuston and Hazelhatch and between Ballybrophy and Thurles run on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September, with bus transfers replacing the Dublin end of every Cork departure on the Saturday.
Where do I check my specific train?
The operator points passengers to its journey planner for full details. The national Transport for Ireland planner carries the same rail data alongside bus options.
