Mayo train route reaches new record as popularity rises

In a record year for rail journeys across the Iarnród Éireann network, demand on the Westport/Dublin Intercity route in 2025 surged by 8.3 percent to 773,000 journeys, a new record high, beating 2024’s previous record of 714,000.

In total, journeys on the Iarnród Éireann network including Intercity, Commuter and DART services recorded a new highest ever total of 55.04 million journeys, up from 2024’s previous record of 50.7 million.

Commenting on the highest ever passenger journeys both nationally and on Mayo services, Iarnród Éireann Chief Executive Mary Considine said: “We welcome another record year in demand for Iarnród Éireann services in 2025, which shows the appetite amongst commuters and communities for high-quality and high-capacity public transport. 

“As passenger volumes continue to grow in 2026, all of us charged with delivering public transport in Ireland must continue to expand our services to meet the demand which exists today and to help more commuters switch to public transport. Our ongoing and planned investment programmes in our network, in new trains and in our stations are crucial to enabling that switch, right across the country.

“That investment will also allow more housing to be developed along our rail network for a more sustainable future, and the development of further investment programmes and projects under the All-Island Strategic Rail Review means rail as the backbone of Ireland’s sustainable transport network is a vision we are on the way to realising.

“None of this from welcoming record passenger numbers today, to building the railway of the future is achievable without the Iarnród Éireann team of over 5,200 colleagues, and I thank them for their continued efforts and commitment to delivering safe, customer-focused services every single day.”

Westport / Dublin services benefited from extra capacity from the introduction of new Intercity railcars in 2024. 

New DART trains entering service from 2027 will begin to free up Intercity trains currently used on Dublin commuter services for use elsewhere on the network, to meet continuing growth in demand.

The recently published Rail Projects Prioritisation Strategy, under the All-Island Strategic Rail Review, prioritises the addition of a passing section of track west of Claremorris to allow further service expansion on the route also, with development targeted by 2030.

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