On Trains & Buses

Passengers in Cork are set to benefit from the introduction of a new 90-minute fare for city bus services on 20^th July, allowing unlimited transfers within the city for a single price during that time. This follows the implementation of new on-board ticket validators, which enable faster boarding via Leap Card taps while reducing delays and enhancing service reliability.

Fare structures also have been simplified, with adult Leap Card users paying a flat rate of €1.70, with the counterpart being €0.85 for young adults and students, while that for children becomes €0.55. At the same time, cash fares for adults rise to €2.40 and those for children drop to €0.80. However, the old single journey adult Leap Card fares of €1.35 and €1.55 have been replaced, meaning a price increase for many who are not cash users. Nevertheless, free travel passes remain valid, and fare capping is now available.

Due to a major road closure on the A54 Macclesfield Road between 25^th July and 30^th October 2026, High Peak service 58 will be unable to serve the Cat & Fiddle section of its route and will instead divert via Long Hill, Kettleshulme and Rainow. Most journeys will continue beyond Macclesfield Bus Station to serve the Black Road area, though the Burbage area of Buxton will not be served during this period due to the length of the diversion. Revised Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday timetables will operate throughout the closure, with the Sunday and bank holiday service continuing to extend to and from Chatsworth House via Bakewell and Monyash as before.

London Northwestern Railway is offering discounted Off-Peak single tickets to London, Birmingham and Liverpool between 29^th June and 31^th August 2026, with prices starting from £7.50 and available for purchase between 22^th June and 6^th July. Tickets must be booked at least seven days in advance, are valid only on London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway services and cannot be used for same-zone travel. Discounts apply to specific departure zones, with railcard holders eligible for an additional third-off reduction. The offer includes single tickets only and off-peak restrictions apply on weekdays, though travel is permitted on weekends and bank holidays. Tickets can be purchased through online retailers like TrainSplit or ticket offices but not from station ticket machines, with no booking fees charged by third-party platforms.

Transport for Ireland has introduced changes to local bus services in Carlow, Kilkenny and Wicklow, including the renaming of Route WW10 to Route 800A, which now serves additional stops such as Coolboy, Annacurragh, Aughrim, Woodenbridge and Arklow while no longer stopping at Hacketstown, Kiltegan and Baltinglass. These adjustments aim to improve connectivity, particularly with Arklow Train Station and are part of broader enhancements to TFI Local Link services, which now include expanded timetables, increased frequency and seven-day operations for Routes 881 and 882. Route 881 connects Graiguenamanagh, Borris, Goresbridge, Gowran and Kilkenny with more daily trips, while Route 882 links Inistioge, Thomastown, Bennettsbridge and Kilkenny with improved access. The changes follow the withdrawal of Bus Éireann Route 374 and are temporarily implemented, with reviews planned for September 2026 to assess their impact on passenger needs and regional travel options.

The UAE’s Etihad Rail service is set to launch on 30^th June 2026, with the first route connecting Abu Dhabi and Fujairah, offering a one-hour 45-minute journey at speeds up to 200km/h in modern carriages. The network aims to reduce reliance on oil by providing a sustainable, affordable transport option, with initial tickets priced at Dh55 for Comfort Class and Dh120 for Premium Class. Future expansions will gradually connect additional emirates, including Dubai and Sharjah, as part of a broader strategy to support economic growth and decarbonisation across the region.

Bus Éireann announced on 27^th March 2026 that three Expressway commercial routes would be withdrawn from 24^th May 2026, citing sustained financial losses on services operating without State subsidy. The affected routes were the Waterford to Dublin and Dublin Airport service, the Ballina to Galway service and a segment of the Rosslare and Wexford to Waterford route.

In response, the National Transport Authority introduced a new subsidised public service, TFI Route 365, to maintain connectivity along the Waterford to Carlow corridor, operated by Bus Éireann on an interim basis under an emergency Direct Award Contract. The new service runs four daily return journeys Monday to Saturday and three on Sundays and Bank Holidays, serving communities including Mullinavat, Thomastown, Gowran, Paulstown, Leighlinbridge and Carlow, with additional stops at Thomastown, Muine Bheag and Dungarvan village not previously served. Connections are available in Carlow to onward bus and rail services to Dublin, and passengers can use TFI Leap Cards for reduced fares, with free travel passes remaining valid.

Launched in November 2025 following a major conservation and digitisation programme, the CIÉ Group Archives Catalogue is an online archival portal created by Córas Iompair Éireann that provides public access to a substantial collection of historical Irish transport records. More than 166,000 pages of material have already been digitised, covering corporate archives from 1945 onwards, records from 68 railway companies, and documentation relating to canal, tramway and road transport operations, with further material being added on an ongoing basis. Until now, Ireland has largely lacked a single, easily accessible online transport archive of this kind, meaning much of this material was previously difficult to discover without prior knowledge of the collections.

Historic minute books, annual reports, engineering documentation, maps, photographs and administrative papers are all represented, spanning organisations such as the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the Great Southern and Western Railway, the Midland Great Western Railway and various tramway and canal undertakings. The catalogue follows a hierarchical structure familiar from professional archival systems, allowing users to browse collections, series and individual files, though only certain records are currently available to view or order directly online. A genealogical names database is also included, enabling searches for individuals connected with Irish transport companies.

Engineering works on Irish rail networks between 30^th May and 1^st June 2026 will disrupt services on the DART, Belfast, Northern and Rosslare routes, with no train operations between key stations such as Dublin Connolly and Greystones, Drogheda and Dundalk and Connolly and Bray. Affected passengers will face bus transfers for journeys between these locations, with altered schedules and reduced service availability on multiple routes, including changes to Enterprise services between Connolly and Belfast. Rosslare services will also require bus transfers from Connolly to Bray for certain departures.

FirstGroup has confirmed the launch of its Lumo open access service between Stirling and London on 25^th May 2026, following approval from the Office of Rail and Road in March 2024. The route will connect London Euston with Stirling via multiple stops, including Milton Keynes Central, Crewe and Carlisle, with Alstom collaborating on a £50 million contract to refurbish and maintain five Class 222 Meridian trains for the service. The company already operates Lumo services on the East Coast Main Line, extended to Glasgow.

Several bus routes in the Merseyside and Halton area are subject to timetable and routing changes from 26^th April 2026. On route 61, journeys towards Halton Hospital return to their usual route and are retimed between St Chads and Halton Hospital, arriving approximately four minutes earlier, while select journeys towards Liverpool are also slightly retimed. Routes 79C, 82A and X4 all revert to their usual routes following the reopening of the Northern Busway, with route 79C journeys towards Murdishaw and X4 journeys towards Windmill Hill returning to their original alignments alongside widespread time changes, and route 82A seeing various Monday to Friday and Saturday amendments including the removal of a late-night journey from Liverpool John Lennon Airport to Murdishaw.