Limerick to Galway

For thirty-four years no passenger train ran north of Ennis. The line from Ennis to Athenry, built in the 1860s as one link in a railway up the west of Ireland from Limerick to Sligo, lost its Limerick–Galway trains in 1963 and its last passenger service in 1976; after the final fertiliser train in 2000 it carried nothing at all. A local campaign, West on Track, gathered more than 100,000 signatures, and on 29 March 2010 the rebuilt line reopened as part of what is now called the Western Railway Corridor.

Today five trains a day each way, four on Sundays, run from Limerick Colbert to Galway Ceannt in a little under two hours. They cross the farmland of Clare and south Galway through Ennis, Gort (between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty hills) and Athenry, with stone walls and small fields on both sides. It is a country railway, mostly single track, and an easy way to reach the places where Yeats and Lady Gregory began the Irish Literary Revival.

Trains leave from Limerick Colbert, the station on Parnell Street that the Waterford & Limerick Railway opened in 1858 and that has carried the name of Con Colbert, one of the executed leaders of the 1916 Rising, since 1966. The Galway trains run out of the city across County Clare to Sixmilebridge, a station first opened in January 1859 and reopened with the line in 2010, and on to Ennis, the county town, about forty minutes from Limerick. The stretch past Newmarket-on-Fergus is low-lying and has flooded more than once; the line was shut for months in 2015–16 and again for a few weeks in 2024.

The reopened line

North of Ennis is the section that came back in 2010. The track had been relaid from November 2007 and the project, which cost €106 million, finished within budget. Gort, first opened in September 1869, was rebuilt on its old site, and Ardrahan and Craughwell reopened with it, Craughwell with a new single platform close to the original. This is quiet country of hedges, limestone walls and grazing, and the halts are small; Craughwell, like Sixmilebridge, is unstaffed. The trains are usually Iarnród Éireann's 2800-class railcars, ten units built in Japan by Tokyu Car and in service since 2000, now all based at Limerick.

At Athenry the line meets the main line from Dublin, which the Midland Great Western opened on 1 August 1851. The old line north towards Tuam and Claremorris is next to come back: clearance work has begun near Tuam, and construction is funded to start in 2028.

Into Galway

The last miles share the Dublin line through Oranmore, a station that opened in 2013. A passing loop and second platform are being built there, due by the end of 2027, so that more trains can run on the single track. The railway then crosses the inlet of Lough Atalia on its bridge and runs into Galway Ceannt, the terminus on Eyre Square, opened the same day as Athenry in 1851. Trains for Limerick leave from its short second platform.

Trains run every day, and reservations are optional. Times below are from Irish Rail's timetable for Limerick–Galway, 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 18:05 waits almost half an hour at Ennis, which makes it the slowest of the five.

Coming back, trains leave Galway at 06:15, 10:25, 13:45 and 17:52, reaching Limerick at 08:20, 12:22, 15:42 and 19:52. A later 18:50 runs to Ennis, where passengers change for the 21:10 to Limerick, arriving at 21:50.

Sundays

From Limerick at 09:00, 12:28, 15:55 and 18:15, arriving in Galway at 10:55, 14:30, 17:51 and 20:14. From Galway at 08:25, 11:55, 16:10 and 18:30, arriving in Limerick at 10:20, 13:48, 18:04 and 20:26.

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

Irish Rail sells its online fares through the journey planner, and on this line they are low: a single from Limerick Colbert to Galway Ceannt was €10.40 on every direct train of a November weekday, at the Low, Medium and Full fares alike, and the cheapest fare shown that week was €10.08.

A reservation is optional, so a ticket bought online simply covers the train you booked; Ennis station also has a ticket office. 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 and Regional trains included and reservations optional, so a pass holder can board any train from Limerick to Galway 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):

Whether it is worth it

For this journey alone, no. A pass day costs more than €30, and the online single from Limerick to Galway is about €10. It pays only when this line is one leg of a longer trip around the island.

Limerick's castle is the place to start before the train, and Athenry's walled medieval town is worth breaking the journey for. The best of the line is around Gort, where the country of Yeats and Lady Gregory lies within a few kilometres of the station; in summer 2026 a free shuttle bus ran daily from June to August between Gort, Thoor Ballylee, Coole Park and Kilmacduagh.

The line is short enough to ride as a day trip from either city, but Ennis and Gort are worth a stop on the way. A night in Ennis puts the friary and the town's pubs within a short walk, and in Galway the old railway hotel stands on Eyre Square beside the station.

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