On Trains & Buses

As the festive season approaches, many are beginning to plan their travels, and for those relying on Irish Rail, understanding the schedule changes is crucial. This year, Iarnród Éireann has provided an overview of the rail service adjustments throughout the Christmas and New Year period, ensuring passengers are well-informed during this busy travel time.

In the lead-up to Christmas, Irish Rail has scheduled late-night DART and Commuter services to accommodate festive revellers. These services will run on Thursdays through to Saturdays from the 5th to the 7th, the 12th to the 14th, and the 19th to the 21st of December. Additionally, these late services will extend into the wee hours of New Year’s Eve, making post-celebration travel easier.

From Christmas Eve on the 24th of December to New Year’s Day on the 1st of January, there will be revised timetables across all routes. It is worth noting that no trains will operate on Christmas Day or St Stephen’s Day, providing a window for essential engineering works, particularly on the Dublin Connolly to Grand Canal Dock line. These works will necessitate service changes, including bus transfers between certain sections, notably impacting the Rosslare services which will require bus travel between Dublin Connolly and Bray.

On Christmas Eve itself, InterCity services will run with some reductions and alterations with final services departing between roughly 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM. DART and Commuter trains will follow a typical Saturday schedule until around 9:00 PM, after which the last trains to key destinations such as Portlaoise, Maynooth, and Drogheda will depart. The Cork Commuter services are aligned similarly with their last journeys to and from Cobh and Midleton concluding slightly earlier.

Between the 27th of December and the 5th of January, train schedules will persist with variations due to the ongoing engineering works, especially in Dublin’s central rail hubs. Improvements are well underway, necessitating the closure of the Dublin Connolly to Grand Canal Dock line, apart from limited shuttle options allowing for continued travel via alternative arrangements such as bus transfers, with Dublin Bus accommodating rail ticket holders between affected stations.

Moving into the New Year, while January 1st will see continued revisions reflective of the construction efforts, normal service is expected to resume by the 6th of January. For the New Year’s Eve celebrations, additional late-night services have been thoughtfully introduced, primarily departing from Connolly and Pearse stations, offering convenience to those celebrating in Dublin.

It’s essential for passengers to pre-book their InterCity services, especially during peak travel times, to ensure a stress-free journey. With the late-night services leading up to Christmas and the comprehensive timetable adjustments, Irish Rail provides robust solutions to navigate the holiday season while accommodating necessary infrastructure enhancements. Travellers are encouraged to check specific times before departing, especially given the frequent alternations during this period.

This thoughtful planning by Iarnród Éireann aims to blend holiday convenience with infrastructure progress, ensuring that passengers enjoy the festive season while also paving the way for sustained service improvements in the new year. Overall, it’s a time of celebration as well as transformation for Irish Rail as it balances holiday cheer with strategic enhancements to the rail network.

Bus Éireann has unveiled its holiday schedule, outlining service changes that will affect travellers across Ireland during the festive period. Understanding these modifications will help passengers plan their journeys effectively, particularly during critical travel days.

Christmas Eve Service Pattern

December 24 will see a carefully orchestrated reduction in services throughout the day. While the morning begins with normal Tuesday operations, services will gradually wind down as the day progresses. The first major changes affect Expressway routes, with intercity services beginning to conclude from mid-afternoon. The Waterford to Dublin Airport route marks the start of these reductions, with its final departure from Waterford at 14:45, followed by its last Dublin Airport departure at 19:15.

As the afternoon progresses, more routes conclude their service. From Wexford, the last bus departs at 17:00, while Ballina’s final service leaves at 17:15. The Sligo connection makes its last departure at 17:30 from Dublin, with a returning service at 18:15. Western routes, including the Limerick to Killarney service, finish with final departures at 17:35 and 18:00 respectively.

For those travelling later in the evening, the last possible Expressway journeys include the Dublin to Donegal service (changing at Cavan) at 21:30, and the final Dublin to Dundalk Route 100X departing at 21:44. Local services, including city, town, and rural routes, continue until approximately 21:00, with any journey that begins before this time guaranteed to complete its full route.

Christmas Day and St. Stephen’s Day Operations

All services pause completely on Christmas Day. However, St. Stephen’s Day (December 26) sees services resume with alterations to early morning journeys. While most routes begin at 09:00 following a Sunday schedule, several essential early services ensure travellers can reach their destinations.

The earliest departures on St. Stephen’s Day demonstrate Bus Éireann’s commitment to maintaining vital transport links. The Expressway network leads the way, with the first bus leaving Donegal at 04:00. Local services follow shortly after, with Route 190 departing Athlone at 05:20, and both Shannon Airport connections (Routes 330 and 343) beginning at 06:00.

Year-End Travel

The period between Christmas and New Year sees a return to regular service patterns from December 27 through December 31. New Year’s Day introduces another modified schedule, operating Sunday service levels before returning to normal operations on January 2.

Planning Recommendations

For passengers planning Christmas Eve travel, understanding the graduated reduction in services is crucial. Those needing to make longer journeys should aim for morning or early afternoon departures to ensure they reach their destinations. The systematic wind-down of services means that later connections may not be available on usual routes.

St. Stephen’s Day travellers benefit from early morning options but should note that services operate on a Sunday schedule. This means reduced frequency compared to weekday service, even though early morning connections are maintained on key routes.

Thankfully, these are fairly minor compared to previous years. Nevertheless, they can catch you out if you are not aware of them, so I am sharing them on here.

The ones starting from 2024-09-01 are minor changes in journey times. The first is the afternoon journey on service 188, a variation of service 88 between Macclesfield, Knutsford, Wilmslow and Altrincham that is included in the same timetable, that will run 10 minutes earlier. The, there are tweaks to the route 60 and 60A timetables to add extra reliability. Coming on 2024-09-02 is a more dramatic change: Mikro Bus are removing the Brookhouse section from route 39. That will leave some looking for alternative travel options.

On 2024-10-24, two changes are being made to exclude parts of route 312 and the Sunday service on route 130 that go through parts of Greater Manchester. Route 312 will use the A555 instead, while route 130 will go along both the A555 and A34 on its way to and from Handforth Dean Retail Park. The latter will no longer go along Stanley Road or Earl Road; Monday to Saturday journeys are unaffected by this change and continue as they are. In addition, journey times on route 312 will also be altered to improve connections with service 88 for getting to and from Knutsford.

Hopefully, that will be all there is to these because more like the cessations in Nantwich rural services can come yet. There may be a Better Buses Bill on the way, but it brings no extra cash and there is a budgetary shortfall that has affected transport investment. At this moment, public transport needs all the help it can get, so that is a shame. Hopefully, we can get past this challenging period to enter better times; they are sorely needed. While there may be a new government, financial constraints sadly remain for now.

The two trips to France allowed for numerous opportunities for using their public transport system. Part of that included their long distance high speed rail network. My forays took in such places as Saint-Malo, Rennes, Paris and Grenoble. At one point, I was tempted by the prospect of a day trip to Geneva, though that never came to pass. Two Paris termini featured: Paris-Montparnasse and Paris Gare de Lyon.

Early Awareness

It was during my secondary schooling that I first became aware of the Train à Grande Vitesse or TGV. French lessons often featured details of life in France, and the commercially successful TGV network was part of this. A school trip to Brittany during one set of summer holidays even had the idea of a TGV trip mentioned. That never happened. The logistics of getting around Paris following an arrival at Paris-Montparnasse possibly would have been too challenging anyway. Instead, a day trip to Jersey as well as others to Dinan and Mont Saint Michel more than sufficed.

A Self-inflicted Hiccup

My 2024 journeying took a different form. The plan was to sail from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo with Brittany Ferries following by train travel to Paris Montparnasse with a stop in Rennes. The lapse of memory that had me leave home without a passport put paid to that scheme. Any bookings with SNCF needed cancellation. Handily, they use English on their website and their mobile app, which made that easier. It also helped that I got most of my money back too.

A Day in Rennes

Mixed weather on my first full day in Paris meant that a trip to Rennes by TGV became a possibility that made up for the disrupted plans. Travelling standard class and booking at the last minute meant that I got lower deck seating when being on the top deck might have been my preference; you do get asked at booking time. Nevertheless, the flatness of the countryside through which we passed meant that this was no shortcoming.

Since the mobile app stores and displays your tickets, using their QR tickets at barriers works smoothly when boarding. Not everywhere has ticket barriers, so there are onboard ticket checks too, and the QR codes work there as well.

Even without ticket barriers, the platforms are not opened until near departure. That can mean a wait, yet there always is plenty of time for boarding, which is just as well given how long the trains can be. Those taking me to and from Rennes had four electric power cars and sixteen trailer coaches, including two café bars (contenting myself with what I had with me, I made no use of these). With a mobility issue, you really need to book assistance in advance.

The whole coupled set may not come at once, as I found while returning from Rennes. The front set had arrived, but I was booked onto the rear set that had arrived later from Brest. When that came and was attached to the other one, boarding did not take long to complete. The wait needed added patience though. You need to keep your wits about you not to end up on the wrong unit.

Nevertheless, all worked well. Because there are no motors underneath the passenger accommodation, the TGV is not undeserving on its contemporary branding of “inOui”, the French for unheard. All certainly is still and relaxing on these trains, possibly to the point of being soporific at times. Spending time reading is as much an option as looking out the window at the passing scenery while scudding across the country at speeds of up to 300 kph.

An Arrival According to a Previous Plan

With an unused Brittany Ferries booking, albeit amended twice, I set sail from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo on the evening of the summer solstice. My arrival in France was dampened by showers while using the time in advance of a direct train journey to Paris-Montparnasse on a TGV. This time, I had more luggage with me than a rucksack on my back. Thus, I was not enthusiastic about moving very far with it.

After a small circuit of Saint-Malo, I found its train station with a waiting TGV being readied for travel. There was a wait before they left us onboard, though a passenger with restricted mobility was helped onto the train well in advance of the departure time.

This time around, I booked a first class journey that did not cost that much more than standard class. This time, I was able to choose a seat in the upper deck. There were plenty of luggage racks that allowed you have your baggage nearer to you than I have experienced elsewhere. The seating may have felt a little worn, yet it was more spacious and the reclining action moved the seat and not just the back, something for airline and bus companies to note. On one side of the aisle, there were single seats with tandem ones on the other side. There is mix of airline and table seats too. Finding an isolated position to my liking, that is what I got to use, even if I was without a dropdown tray for some reason.

Getting a heavy case onboard requires lifting, for nothing is step free, even for the lower deck. For the upper one, you have to step down from the platform before ascending to where you should be. Travelling light may a wiser choice as I was to find more than once on my second round of French travels. Once upstairs moving around was easy enough, and luggage accommodation is generous.

The line between Saint-Malo and Rennes is of the classic variety, so you get a high speed train going at much less than its designed speed. That did offer more opportunities for window gazing, and a classic line felt more built up, thus allowing you a greater feel for French countryside. After a stop in Rennes, progress was far more rapid on the Ligne à Grande Vitesse (LGV). From then on, the experience was not dissimilar to my previous encounter and I do not fault it. Once at Paris-Montparnasse, there was a change onto a local train for Versailles, but that is another story.

To Grenoble and Back

After spending some time around Versailles and Paris, I was bound for more alpine surroundings. That meant getting to Gare de Lyon, where trains running on the LGV Sud-Est and LGV Rhône-Alpes serve. Like the journey from Saint-Malo to Paris-Montparnasse, I was going direct to Grenoble without a change of train. Again, I went with upper deck first class accommodation with much the same experience.

This time, the trains were shorter. There were two electric power cars topping and tailing eight trailer carriages. The doubling up that I encountered on the LGV Bretagne - Pays de Loire was not the case here. There was one stop prior to Grenoble: Gare de Lyon-Saint-Exupéry. This not a city station but is attached to an airport, quite a distance from Lyon.

Beyond that station on the outbound journey, you again find yourself on a classic line with some very sluggish progress. Having a train designed for 300 kph loping along at around 50 kph with many pauses is an odd business until things speed up beyond that point. It makes one wonder if arrival will be on time; that was not a problem as I found. At least, the scenery had got more interesting by then and that last section showed many mountain sightings, pre-announcing an imminent arrival. If anything, that passage along the classic line felt quicker on the return journey. Maybe, being forewarned is being forearmed.

Other Possibilities

Nothing that I came across on the French high speed network would put me off using it again. Other ideas came into my mind during my trips to France. Marseille cropped up as a possible getaway from inclement weather that I never needed. The same might be said of Geneva, an international option that came to mind during the first trip. It may be that these and other possibilities could have a use on any future continental European escapades that come to pass. Rail may take longer than that by air, but it remains kinder to the environment, and you may get to experience a lot more of your surroundings. For those reasons, I would not discount the prospects of a repeat venture like what happened earlier this year.

This year, I got a few opportunities to sample Eurostar’s services between London and Paris. Brussels and Amsterdam are destinations reachable from the UK, but I stuck with France. Former Thalys services, still in red and now branded Eurostar, are part of the network too, so other destinations in Belgium and the Netherlands are a possibility, as are a selection in Germany. There are trains to skiing destinations in the winter as well as ones to sunshine counterparts in the summer. Changing your train somewhere in continental Europe will grant you more options. At a time of greater climate consciousness, it is good to have these.

The prospect of an out and back trip to Paris by train had lain in my mind for a few years, only for it never to happen for one reason or another. The idea predates both Brexit and the height of the pandemic. Last year’s visits added the idea of an outbound ferry crossing followed by a return by train. Passport fumbling on my part was enough to scupper this the first time around.

Fortunately, I got myself onto an outbound Eurostar train at fairly short notice to continue the trip. That added to the cost, which seemingly is never cheap anyway. Booking further in advance does help, though.

Travelling in standard class, I got allocated a seat, and it looks as if choosing one yourself is not a standard option, unless you get that in travelling in business class. At one turn, I saw a family dealing with the non-ideal arrangement they had been given.

For a lone traveller, it is less of an issue, and I was not put out by it. The first time around, I was seated with three others and airline seating was my lot after that. The last trip even gained me two airline seats to myself, a much more relaxing proposition that I did not expect to have.

At St. Pancras International, the waiting area was not so commodious with all who were travelling. Seat availability is not assured, though business class travellers get access to a dedicated lounge. At Gare du Nord, there is much more space for everyone. That may be on an overhead annex seemingly fasten to the front and side of the station, but it does work and there appear to be more outlets providing food and drink as well as duty-free shopping.

Because of passage through the Channel Tunnel, luggage and personal possessions needed x-raying at both locations, but this was not as strenuous as with air travel. If anything the process is much faster. At both termini, you need to pass though both British and French passport control. It is not as if you have one country’s passport control in one place and another’s in another one. However, the double clearance makes for rapid disembarkation on arrival at your destination, which can be a bonus for making onward travel connections.

Boarding is fairly efficient once they open the gates for doing so. The trains are long you need to be use the right ramp to save yourself a lot of hurried walking. Getting luggage sorted is another matter. It makes life easier and matters quicker if you are not carrying so much. My first trip only used a large rucksack because I saw myself walking around different places with it. That was easy enough since an overhead rack was all that I needed. For the second one, I carried a case as well as a daypack. The latter could go on an overhead rack, while the former had to be stored in the correct area. Getting on early made that a quick operation, though there is a step up from the platform that added to the amount of lifting and carrying (it could have been lighter…).

While there is a café bar onboard, I stuck with whatever food and drink I brought with me. With journey times not exceeding two and a half hours, there was not a lot of available time anyway. One omission that I noticed was Wi-Fi; it may have been advertised, but there was no sign of it when I tried to connect. Mobile signal did work to a point given the speeds at which we were going. That was enough for any reading or tracking where we were going. What really struck me was the flatness of any countryside through which we were passing. The Channel Tunnel section only lasted for around twenty minutes, and I dozed for much of that on the first journey.

Aside from grumbles about lack of Wi-Fi and an appreciation for choosing a seat for oneself, I had no complaints about the journeys. Gare du Nord is not the most centrally located of stations though, something for which you need to account in a city as big as Paris where it is easy to walk for an hour between any of its landmarks. The proximity of St. Pancras International to Euston worked far better for me, and even the previous terminus at Waterloo is only a short underground journey away. All in all, the added flexibility of rail travel still works. It may need more time, yet there are further uses that I can concoct for possible escapades that may or may not come to pass.