23 Oct 2018
Posted by Chris Jones 
If you’re planning to be out and about over the Halloween Bank Holiday weekend, you can expect changes to public transport schedules. Irish Rail (including DART) users will be most affected due to engineering works on some lines. We’ve also compiled the major alterations for Dublin Bus, Luas and Bus Éireann.
As always on a bank holiday, services are expected to be busy – so it’s best to book in advance if possible and leave plenty of extra time for your journey.
IRISH RAIL
See below for an overview, with full details here.
DART
Engineering works will take place between Connolly and Dun Laoghaire on Saturday and Sunday, and between Bray and Greystones on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. As a result, the following changes will take place on those days:
- No service between Dublin Connolly and Dun Laoghaire, or between Bray and Greystones on Saturday and Sunday.
- Dublin Bus will accept valid rail tickets between the city centre and Dun Laoghaire, while bus transfers will be used between Bray and Greystones.
CORK, LIMERICK AND TRALEE
Works will be in place between Portarlington and Portlaoise, with a number of bus transfers and changes as a result on Saturday and Sunday. See the Irish Rail website for the full list.
CORK COMMUTERS
A number of Cobh services between Monday (5th) and Friday will be replaced by bus transfers. See the Irish Rail website for the full list.
NORTHERN COMMUTER
Works in place between Connolly and Dun Laoghaire:
- Northern and Maynooth commuter services will run to and from Dublin Connolly only
- Tara Street and Pearse stations will be closed
PORTLAOISE
Some timing changes on Saturday. See the Irish Rail website for the full list.
ROSSLARE
Saturday and Sunday
Bus transfer between Connolly and Greystones due to works between Connolly and Dun Laoghaire, and Bray and Greystones.
Monday
Bus transfer between Bray and Greystones due to works.
WATERFORD
Some timing changes across the weekend. See the Irish Rail website for the full list.
WESTERN RAIL CORRIDOR AND WATERFORD/LIMERICK
All services will run as normal.
GALWAY AND WESTPORT
All services will run as normal.
BELFAST ENTERPRISE
All Dublin/Belfast services will run as normal.
DUBLIN BUS
A Sunday service will be in operation on Monday. Otherwise, services over the weekend will operate as normal, apart from some diversions between Friday and Monday – but mainly on Sunday – due to the Dublin Marathon. Details here.
NITELINK
A full Nitelink service will operate on Friday and Saturday, but there will be no Nitelink on Sunday (TBC). Note that departure times on Saturday are not affected by the clocks going back one hour; i.e. times are as they would be otherwise.
BUS ÉIREANN
Below is an overview – full schedule changes are available here.
SUNDAY
Normal service with a number of cancellations.
MONDAY
Sunday service with a number of cancellations and alterations.
DUBLIN MARATHON
There will also be a number of diversions and schedule changes across the weekend as a result of the Dublin Marathon. The following routes will be affected: 2, 100X, NX, 4, X8, X12, 20, 22, 23, 115, 120, 126 133. Full details here.
LUAS
Normal frequency all weekend except on Monday, when a Sunday service will operate.
On Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, the Red Line will be closed between Belgard and Saggart, so it will operate between The Point and Tallaght only. A replacement bus service will be used.
Main image by Flickr user calflier001, used under CC-BY-SA-2.0 licence
