Athlone Easter weekend train services to be severely affected by Irish Rail works

Irish Rail has given notice that train services to and from Athlone over the coming Easter bank holiday weekend will be severely impacted by works being carried out between Galway and Portarlington.

Services will be affected from this Friday evening (Good Friday, April 3) up to and including the morning of Easter Monday (April 6).

During that period, no passenger trains will operate between Dublin and Galway - instead rail services will be replaced by bus transfers between Dublin and Galway, with these operating to a revised schedule.

On the Dublin to Westport line, bus transfers will be in effect between Dublin and Athlone, with these, again, operating to a revised schedule.

It means the only trains serving Athlone between Good Friday evening and Easter Monday morning will be operating between Athlone and Westport.

Irish Rail said the disruption to services was due to "a series of works including the continued construction of the new Ceannt Station in Galway and associated infrastructure, the expansion of Oranmore Station, and track and bridge renewal works at a number of locations".

Explaining why the bank holiday weekend had been chosen for this work, Irish Rail said: "We try to ensure that our busiest lines are unaffected at the busiest times, so weekday works, and particularly at peak, are avoided.

"We choose selected Bank Holiday weekends to undertake projects of significant scale – the extra weekend day allows us to achieve more progress more efficiently, while avoiding impacting those crucial weekday customers.

"We don't schedule works at St Patrick's weekend, which is particularly important for tourism. However the February, Easter, May, June, August and October Bank Holidays are often used for works," it stated.

Due to the revised schedule, and bus transfers in place, people intending to travel this weekend are being advised to check times and book their journey in advance at: www.irishrail.ie