Ballybrophy-Limerick train service back on track

Disappointment has been voiced by campaigners for the Ballybrophy-Limerick railway line about the lack of promotion about its reopening.

The service, which stops in Roscrea, Cloughjordan, Nenagh and Birdhill, resumed this morning and it has been off the rails for much of the last 15 months due to the pandemic.

However, a substantial portion of the track has also been upgraded in recent months while rail service was disrupted.

Brendan Sheehan is with the North Tipperary Community Rail Partnership:

“They’ve laid five more kilometres of continuous welded rail which is part of the campaign that we have to get a good service reinstated.

“There was nobody on the train this morning that I noticed, and why would there be if nobody knew the train was back. So ya we’re unhappy. We think it’s a very obvious thing to do as part of the reintroduction of a service is to at least make announcements that people can now travel on the train.”

Irish Rail is reminding train passengers that face coverings are mandatory, capacity is at 50 percent, and that tickets must be pre-booked on irishrail.ie.

North Tipperary Community Rail Partnership has also launched a petition which calls for greater investment and a keener focus on improving journey times on the Ballybrophy-Limerick rail service. The petition can be found here.