Early morning boost for Louth commuters as new rail service announced

Iarnród Éireann is to start a new limited stop Commuter train servicing Louth commuters between Drogheda and Dublin Connolly Stations from next Monday 20th April.

The new 06:05hrs Drogheda to Dublin Connolly will serve Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush & Lusk, Donabate and Malahide Stations en route, arriving in Dublin Connolly at 07:09hrs.

The additional service will be a six-carriage train, utilising the train set which then operates the 07:40hrs Dublin Connolly to Belfast Grand Central service.  It will bring to ten the number of trains departing Drogheda in the morning peak with a pre-09:00hrs city centre arrival, and twelve with a pre-09:30hrs arrival.

The service commences following the recent engagement with the Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien TD, the National Transport Authority, transport agencies and other stakeholders to identify early opportunities for additional measures to boost public transport capacity or ease congestion.

It comes at a time of record demand on the rail network, and ahead of next year’s introduction of the new battery-electric DART fleet on the Drogheda to Dublin Northern Commuter route.  A total of 55 million journeys were made across Iarnród Éireann’s services in 2025, including 4.65 million journeys on the Northern Commuter route.

The new DART fleet will begin entering service in the first half of 2027 and, together with battery-electric charging infrastructure at Drogheda Station, will replace existing Intercity and Commuter trains on the Northern Commuter route.  

This will add capacity between Drogheda and Dublin Connolly by providing longer trains on a number of services, and will also allow the Intercity and Commuter trains to be added to other routes to further increase capacity on a range of services.

Iarnród Éireann Chief Executive Mary Considine said: “Our investment programme will begin to deliver significant additional capacity from 2027 on the Northern Commuter and other routes, but this new service allows us to quickly bring real benefit to existing commuters, and those wishing to switch to public transport on one of our busiest routes in the country.”

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Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien welcomed the new service, saying: “This is very welcome news for commuters across North County Dublin.  The new 06:05hrs service from Drogheda to Dublin Connolly will make a real difference for early morning commuters, providing greater choice, reliability and convenience.  

“I’m delighted to see this additional capacity being delivered and to support the growing needs of our communities along the line.”

For more info see: irishrail.ie