Dublin to Westport

Westport was a port when the railway reached it, on 28 January 1866, fifteen years after the first trains had crossed the Shannon at Athlone. From the river the track had gone on through Roscommon, Castlerea and the Mayo market towns, reaching Castlebar in 1862 and Westport four years later. A branch once ran on to Achill, on the Atlantic, and another down to Westport Quay. Both are gone; the Achill trackbed is now a path along Clew Bay.

What remains is the railway from Dublin to the west coast of Mayo: four to six InterCity trains a day from Heuston, about three and a quarter hours across the Midlands and over the Shannon into Connacht. It is not a mountain line and it does not run beside the sea, but it crosses the whole width of the country, and it ends a short way from Clew Bay with Croagh Patrick, the pilgrims' mountain, on the skyline.

The trains are Iarnród Éireann's 22000-class InterCity railcars, built in South Korea and delivered from 2007. The Galway trains share the line as far as Athlone, where the two routes divide; this page follows the Westport ones.

Trains leave from Dublin Heuston and run out along the main line to Cork as far as Portarlington, where the Westport and Galway trains branch off north-west. This was the Great Southern & Western's route to Athlone, opened in 1859 in competition with the Midland Great Western's line from Mullingar, which had got there eight years earlier; since 1973 it has been the main route west. The train calls at Tullamore and Clara and reaches Athlone about an hour and twenty minutes out.

Into Connacht

Athlone is where the Galway trains go their own way, and on some services the Westport passengers change here. Leaving the station, the line crosses the Shannon on the White Bridge — 165 metres of iron on twelve cylindrical piers, designed by G. W. Hemans and built in eighteen months for the Midland Great Western in 1851. Its central span once opened for tall boats; it was fixed in place in 1972. On the far bank the train is in County Roscommon and the province of Connacht.

Roscommon opened in February 1860, the first section of the line beyond Athlone. After it come Castlerea and Ballyhaunis, then Claremorris, opened in May 1862, which has been proposed as a junction again if the Western Rail Corridor from Athenry is reopened as far as here.

To the end of the line

Manulla Junction is one of the odd stations of Ireland: it has had no entrance for passengers since 1963, and trains stop there only so that people can change for the branch to Foxford and Ballina. Castlebar follows, and twenty minutes later the train runs into Westport, the station opened as Westport Town in 1866. The line once carried on beyond it, to Westport Quay from 1875 and to Achill from 1895; the Achill extension closed in 1937 and is now the Great Western Greenway, which leaves the town under High Street.

Trains run every day, and reservations are optional. Times below are from Irish Rail's timetable for Dublin–Westport & Ballina, valid from 14 December 2025 until further notice, checked against the journey planner for November 2026; public holidays run to a different pattern.

Monday to Saturday

The 07:35 runs through to Westport on Fridays; on other days it is a Galway train, and Westport passengers change at Athlone onto the 09:15. On Fridays there is an extra train at 17:10, reaching Westport at 21:15. A late 19:35 from Heuston, with a change at Athlone, arrives at 22:56.

Coming back, trains leave Westport at 05:15 (Monday to Friday), 07:15, 09:45, 13:10, 16:20 (change at Athlone) and 18:30, reaching Heuston 3 h 17 to 3 h 40 later.

Sundays

From Heuston at 08:00 (change at Athlone), 13:40, 15:40 and 18:30, arriving in Westport at 11:28, 17:01, 19:03 and 21:48. From Westport at 07:50, 13:20, 15:45 and 17:50.

Times and live running: Irish Rail · Journey planner (opens in a new tab) · Timetables by route (opens in a new tab).

Irish Rail sells three online fares for each train, which run out in turn as a train fills: a single from Dublin Heuston to Westport costs €15.99 at the Low fare, €16.99 at Medium and €18.69 at Full. Book through the Irish Rail journey planner, which also reserves a seat; the cheaper fares can sell out on Friday and Sunday evening trains.

There is one class on these trains, and a reservation is optional, so a ticket bought online covers the train you booked. Fares read from the Irish Rail planner in November 2026.

A rail pass covers the whole line. Irish Rail is in Interrail's table of included companies — checked in November 2026, last updated 21 October — with its InterCity trains included and reservations optional, so a pass holder can board any train from Heuston to Westport without paying a supplement.

The one-country pass is the Interrail Ireland Pass, which covers Northern Ireland as well as the Republic. Adult second-class prices read from Interrail on 3 November 2026 (they change with Interrail's promotions):

A One Country Pass cannot be used in the country you live in.

Whether it is worth it

For this journey alone, no. A pass day costs more than €30, and the full online single from Dublin to Westport is €18.69. It pays only when Westport is one leg of a longer trip around the island.

The best of the line is at its western end. Castlebar is the stop for the national country-life museum, and from Westport station the town, the estate, the Greenway and the road to Croagh Patrick are all within reach.

The last train back to Dublin leaves Westport in the early evening, so a day trip leaves only a few hours in the town. A night in Westport leaves time for Croagh Patrick or the Greenway, and for an evening on Bridge Street.

Planning this trip and stuck on something, or spotted a time, fare or detail that has changed? Send us a message about Dublin to Westport. We read every one, and we update this page when something has changed.