Cork commuter rail services suspended for weekend upgrades
Rail services on the busy Cork commuter routes to Cobh and Midleton will be suspended this weekend to facilitate upgrades designed to treble capacity on the routes.
All rail services from the city to Cobh and to Midleton on Saturday and Sunday will be cancelled, with limited bus transfers operating instead.
The bus transfer service, running to a revised timetable, will operate between Cork and Cobh, and Cork and Midleton, across the weekend, with direct bus transfers between Cork and Fota during Fota Wildlife Park's opening hours of 9am to 6pm on both days.
Customers are advised to check times before travel at www.irishrail.ie or on the Iarnród Éireann app.
Iarnród Éireann is shutting down the city's commuter rail services for the weekend so that it can carry out major upgrades on the routes as part of the Cork Area Commuter Rail investment programme.
Engineers will complete signalling works as part of the investment, which seeks to treble the capacity of the commuter rail network. They will also work on track renewal to facilitate the twin-tracking of the line between Glounthaune and Midleton.
The Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme is a series of interrelated projects that will ultimately enable train services every 10 minutes across the Cork rail network.
It is funded by the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility and the National Transport Authority.
The recently opened Platform 6 at Kent Station, together with the Glounthaune-to-Midleton twin-track project and Cork area signalling and communications upgrades – both set for completion in 2026 – will deliver the network capacity to support 10-minute frequencies on each of Cork's three commuter lines, to Cobh, Midleton, and Mallow.
The upgraded commuter rail network also includes proposals for several new stations, including at Blackpool and Monard, as outlined in the 2010 Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS).
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