AN URGENT warning has been issued for thousands of commuters as part of the Dart service is shutting down during the Dublin Marathon.
The Dublin Marathon is set to take place tomorrow morning at the same time Irish Rail revealed they will be shutting down part of the Dart services across the country for rail works.
The Dublin Marathon is set to take place on Sunday morning at 8:40am and finish at approximately 5pm at Mount Street Upper.
Thousands of people across the country are making their way to the heart of Dublin to run or cheer on their loved ones in the marathon.
The 26.2-mile marathon course, one of the most difficult physical endurance tests of the year for Irish fitness enthusiasts, is anticipated to draw close to 20,000 runners.
However, Irish Rail issued a warning for the Bank Holiday weekend, stating that engineering works will take place on Saturday and will continue until Monday.
Irish Rail typically perform engineering works over the bank holiday weekends due to the extra weekend day allowing them to achieve more progress.
As a result of the engineering works, the affected rails are between Dublin Connolly and Dundalk.
This means that there will be no commuter services on the affected rails, making it difficult for people to commute to the capital and beyond between Dublin Connolly Station and Dundalk Stations.
There will be no DART services operation between Dublin Connolly and Malahide or Howth.
As a result of the services being suspended during the engineering works, the stations will be closed, which include: Malahide, Portmarnock, Clongriffin, Howth, Sutton, Bayside, Howth Junction and Donaghmede, Kilbarrack, Raheny, Harmonstown, Killester and Clontarf Road.
Passengers are advised to use alternative bus services, such as Dublin Bus or Go-Ahead, which both accept rail tickets to and from these areas.
The other DART services that are operating between Dublin Connolly and Bray or Greystones remain unaffected by the engineering works.
Northern and Intercity services
For the Northern Commuters, there will be no train services between Dublin Connolly and Dundalk, a limited bus transfer will operate from the affected stations to Dundalk and Dublin Connolly.
This means that those who are planning on travelling to/from Belfast will have to take a limited bus transfer to Dundalk / Dublin Connolly to continue their commute.
For the Intercity services to Dublin Heuston, the station is also affected by the reduced platform availability.
Due to this, bus transfers are set to operate between Athy, Co Kildare, and Heuston on the Waterford to Dublin service.
Cork, Kerry, and Limerick to Dublin Heuston services will operate on revised timetables during the bank holiday weekend.
All direct services between Limerick/Tralee and Dublin Heuston have been cancelled.
Rail services will operate with connections into Cork/Dublin at Mallow for Tralee customers and Limerick Junction for Limerick customers.
Irish Rail has said that additional services will operate for several events, including the Dublin Marathon.
And other services across the rest of the network will operate on revised timetables.
Commuters are urged to check the Irish Rail’s X page for daily updates and follow the schedule to see if any adjustments have been made to their service.
They said: “Engineering works are taking place across the network this weekend Saturday 26th – Monday 28th October, which will include bus transfers on some services.
“Customers are advised to check our Journey Planner prior to travel.”