Cork & public transport. To call it a thorny subject is something of an understatement, both when it comes to the passenger experience and to the larger strategy. Bus Éireann continues to be an unmitigated disaster, BusConnects is a joke at this point, a proposed Cork harbour ferry is dead in the water and there are ample doubts about whether said proposal was valid in the first place, while the plans for a light rail system are being fought at every corner by a phalanx of rich and/or entitled geriatric egomaniacs under the flimsiest of pretences. And while Cork does have a small commuter rail network, this is barebones and mostly located on the city’s periphery.
Cork Area Commuter Rail is a project that has been drawn up to address the latter. In effect, the plan is to take Cork’s existing suburban rail lines and turn them from glorified branch lines into a proper high capacity and high frequency commuter rail system along the lines of the S Bahn networks in Germany that I spent many years commuting on. The project won’t see any new rail lines built, but even so, it is pretty damn ambitious, certainly by Irish standards. But let’s have a look at the system as it stands right now. There are three main elements to Cork’s suburban rail network.
Cork-Dublin Main Line: Currently, commuter services run up the Cork-Dublin main line as far as Mallow, without any intermediate stops between there and Cork’s Kent Station. Whilst there are some dedicated commuter services running to Mallow at the moment, for the most part, passengers have to rely on long-distance or intercity services to travel between Cork and Mallow.
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| Cork's Kent Station is the centre of the city's existing suburban rail network and despite its diminutive size, it's one of the busiest stations in Ireland. |
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| It's the southern terminus of the main line between Dublin and Cork, with most intercity services using the station's two through platforms, 4 & 5. |
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| Most of the current commuter services from Midleton or Cobh terminate at the station's three bay platforms. |
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| Mallow is the northern terminus for Cork's suburban services and currently sports three platforms. There are no intermediate stops between Cork and Mallow. At present, much of the service on this line is by long distance trains serving Dublin, was well as the occasional service to Limerick or Killarney. The line to Killarney branches off of the Dublin main line here. |
Cork-Cobh: Technically, this is an extension of the main line from Dublin, dating back to a time when Cobh served as a port of call for transatlantic mail and passenger steamers. As a result, the line is dual-tracked in its entirety and generally appears overbuilt for the level of traffic it currently sees, which comes mainly in the shape of two car diesel multiple units, or DMUs.
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| Cobh is the terminus for one of the two actual suburban lines of Cork's commuter network. Despite being at the end of a dual tracked line, the station only has one active platform. Most of the service is provided by Irish Rail's Class 2600 DMUs, such as the one seen here. |
Cork-Midleton: This is a relatively short, single-tracked stub that used to be part of a longer line to the town of Youghal, until that was closed and torn up in the 1960s as part of a major cull of unprofitable rail lines throughout Ireland. The line as far as Midleton was reactivated as a single-track branch line in the 2000s, with plans to reactivate the line all the way to Youghal falling victim to the economic realities of that time. This line shares a track with the Cork-Cobh line up to Glounthaune station, and is served by the same DMUs that also operate on the Cobh line.
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| Yes, I know, this is Little Island station, not Carrigtwohill or Midleton. However, as I've never actually taken the train to Midleton, this is the best I can do image-wise. |
Despite its diminutive size, the Cork suburban network regularly operates beyond capacity, leading to overcrowded trains and passengers being left behind on platforms. There has been an increase in the number of services on both the Cobh and Midleton lines, but it’s not enough to keep up with demand. That’s where CACR comes in. It is a multi-phase project aimed at transforming services on the existing lines. Phase 1 kicked off in 2023 and consists of three projects aimed at laying the groundwork for Phase 2.
Phase 1
- A new platform at Kent Station to allow for through running of services from Mallow to either Midleton or Cobh without interfering with intercity services using the existing through platforms. This was started in 2023 and completed in 2025 with the opening of Platform 6 at Kent.
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| Construction for Platform 6 at Kent Station is well underway in this image I took from my office window back in 2024. |
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| This is the completed Platform 6 as seen from the bay platforms at Kent Station in May 2025. |
- Dual-Tracking of the Midleton branch. This will increase the capacity of the Midleton branch line prior to the commencement of Phase 2 of CACR. Work started in 2024 and is expected to be complete by the last quarter of 2026.
- Upgrade of the signalling & communications systems on the Cork suburban lines. This is probably the least “sexy” aspect of the entire project, as it doesn’t contain any highly visible elements that can be shown to the public. There are no new tracks, no new platforms, or any other visible infrastructure. Instead, it’s just miles and miles of cabling and ducting, a couple of nondescript trackside sheds and maybe new signals. Yet at the same time, this is by far the most crucial aspect of the program. Because the new signalling system is built with the locations of the new and upgraded stations already in mind, reducing the work that’ll be needed to get those stations up and running. Work here started in early 2024 and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2026.
Phase 2
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| This plan gives an overview of the planned new stations and station upgrades coming in as part of CACR. This was created by Irish Rail and taken from the CACR website, which is well worth checking out! |
Cork - Dublin Main Line
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| The new Blackpool station will be built on the site of an older station that was abandoned at some point in the 20th century. This station is being accelerated for planning and construction and barring any major setbacks, construction should start in early 2027. Image provided by Irish Rail. |
A new station is being planned in the townland of Monard, between Blackpool and Blarney. Monard is slated as the location of a large new commuter town/suburb, and the station is set to be a key component of this project. Unfortunately, I do not have any details on how far along the planning for Monard is. I also don't have any images of the planned station there.
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| Further up the line, Blarney will receive a new station as well as a Park & Ride facility. The station will feature a third platform and passing track to allow faster Intercity services to pass commuter trains. Image provided by Irish Rail. |
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| Mallow station will receive a major upgrade, getting a new island platform to accommodate both CACR services as well as the existing services to Dublin and Tralee. Image provided by Irish Rail. |
Cork - Glounthaune - Core Network
A new station is planned at Tivoli, which is currently the site of a container terminal of the Port of Cork. With the completion of the new deepwater container terminal at Ringaskiddy, as well as the M28 motorway being built to serve this new terminal, all remaining operations are slated to be moved to the new facility, allowing Tivoli to be turned into a new community. However, this is still a long ways off and at the moment, I have no details, or images, of either project.
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| Dunkettle station will be built near the eponymous motorway interchange, on the site of the old North Esk container yard. Like Blackpool, this station sits entirely on land already controlled by Irish Rail and as such, it is being accelerated for planning and construction. Image provided by Irish Rail. |
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| Owing to its location near a major interchange, and its proximity to the Image provided by Irish Rail. |
Glounthaune - Midleton
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| Carrigtwohill West will be a completely new station between Glounthaune and Carrigtwohill, currently the only intermediate stop on the Midleton branch of Cork's suburban network. Image provided by Irish Rail. |
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| A new depot is planned to be built at a site between Carrigtwohill and the new Water-Rock station. This is necessitated by the fact that the train fleet needed for CACR will be significantly larger than the existing fleet, and far more than the current depot at Kent Station can handle. The existing depot also has no room for expansion and is not able to support the electric multiple units (EMUs) slated for CACR Image provided by Irish Rail. |
Water-Rock is the name of a new station that is planned for a location between the new depot and the terminus at Midleton, but I have no images of this station. As for Midleton itself, this station is being upgraded as part of the dual tracking of its branch line and will not require any major changes as part of CACR.
Glounthaune - Cobh
Only one new station is planned for the Cobh branch. This will be built at Ballynoe, between the existing stations at Carrigaloe and Rushbrooke, plugging what I consider to be a major gap on that line. It will also allow for interchange with the cross-river ferry, hopefully taking some of the pressure off of Bus Éireann's overtaxed 216 service and making life a little easier for commuters in the process. Unfortunately, say it with me, I don't have any images of said station.
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| Cobh will receive a new platform to the west of the current one, taking up a site that is currently not being utilised. I'm not going to lie, I'd have preferred to see a platform to the south of the existing one, near the boundary wall with the cruise terminal, but either way, this will allow both extra capacity and extra services. Image provided by Irish Rail. |
In addition to that, Phase 2 will see the entire Cork network be electrified with 25kV overhead wires, the same electrification standard already in place across much of Europe. This means that the Cork lines will be operating with a much higher voltage than the existing DART network in Dublin. Finally, the current anemic fleet of DMUs operating in Cork will be replaced by a significantly larger fleet of new X’Trapolis electric multiple units (EMUs), the same type that is due to start rolling out across Dublin’s DART network next year. The final goal is to have as high capacity suburban rail system with a service frequency of ten minutes by 2032. Just for comparison, that's a higher service frequency than I experienced on the S6 line of the Frankfurt S-Bahn when I still commuted to work in that city.
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| S3 service of the S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar network pulling into Speyer Hbf station. I've long held S-Bahn networks in Germany as one of the best rail transit solutions out there, and used to rely on them to get to work, as well as to visit my parents. CACR will bring Cork's suburban services up to the same standard, and possibly even exceed them. |
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| Thankfully, it looks like CACR will avoid one of the major literal pitfalls of the S-Bahn network in Frankfurt, my former home base, modelled here by an S8 service to Frankfurt Airport. |
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| Due to the organic growth of many S-Bahn networks in Germany, you get situations like this where the platform height at some stations does not match that at the others, creating an accessibility nightmare and literal stumbling block. In this case, the platforms at Frankfurt Airport's S-Bahn station are lower than the floors of the trains. Never mind accessibility, good luck trying to manhandle heavy suitcases in here! |
Now to be fair, plans are cheap, especially in this country. There are plans for pretty much everything here, but none of those ever seem to come to fruition. However, CACR really does stand out among those plans. To put it bluntly, there appears to be a real fire in Irish Rail, a real hunger to get this done right and on time. Phase 1 of the project is largely complete sat this point, and the first round of public consultations for Phase 2 took place back in the summer of 2025.
I actually attended one of those public information events and had the chance to speak with several engineers involved in he project. The energy was palpable even then, and several of the individuals I spoke to made it clear that Irish Rail wanted Phase 2 of the project to start as early as possible. They went so far as mentioning that the stations at Blackpool & Dunkettle were being considered for early construction, as they were fully on land owned by Irish Rail and didn’t require any changes to the existing rail lines they’re on. Fast forward to early 2026, and these two stations were indeed the first ones to move forward, with planning applied for in the first quarter of 2026 and construction due to start in early 2027. Given this, the generally bullish statements by senior project managers at Irish Rail, and the fact that CACR is itself a key component of another large infrastructure project, I’m convinced that this project will be seen through to its completion within, or at least close to, its planned time frame.
And make no mistake, despite the fact that CACR does not actually encompass any new rail lines, it is surprisingly far-seeing and ambitious, especially for a country like Ireland, which has generally viewed public transport projects of any kind with thinly veiled disgust. Take the planned electrification with 25kV overhead wires, a system used on railway mainlines across Europe, including France’s TGV network. This was a deliberate choice, as the line between Cork Kent station and Mallow is also part of the main line between Cork and Dublin, Ireland’s most important railway corridor. CACR is effectively the start of a larger project to electrify the entire main line all the way up to Dublin Heuston. In a similar vein, CACR will use the same type of train as Dublin, namely Alstom’s X’Trapolis EMUs. This will not only make maintenance easier, it also avoids the need for a separate tender, eliminating a whole lot of legal hassles in one fell swoop.
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| One of the new Alstom X'Trapolis trains slated to replace the existing DART fleet. This image was released by Irish Rail alongside a news release announcing the arrival of the first train in Ireland. |
I’m not going to lie though, there’s a lot of work ahead for the project team. For starters, the overcrowding issue needs to be addressed immediately, as it is very much a safety issue. There is apparently a plan to start cascading down DMUs from Dublin’s commuter routes as new battery electric X’Trapolis BEMUs start operating on non-electrified sections of the DART & DART+ network and as far as I’m concerned, these can’t come soon enough, the current fleet of eight Class 2600 railcars is nowhere near enough to handle the current demand.
Then, there’s electrification, which brings its own set of headaches. Now, public transport activists love to point out that Cork used to sit at the centre of an extensive rail network, and in general, this is true. However, it is often forgotten that these lines were built by for-profit companies in the Victorian era, on the cheap, and without any thoughts given to any potential upgrades. That is the case for the surviving lines as well, and both the lauding gauge and overhead clearances under bridges, tunnels, or station canopies are uncomfortably low. According to the CACR project website, 34 bridges and other structures will need to be modified to ensure proper clearance for the catenary wires. Most of these issues can be addressed by lowering the track bed, but ten structures will require modifications or wholesale replacement.
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| Be it overhead gantries such as this one at Speyer Hauptbahnhof..., |
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| ...or trackside poles such as these, overhead electric wires require quite a bit of clearance to avoid short circuits between the live wires and any structures...or individuals on said structures. Whether it's 15kV 16.7 Hz such as in this case, or the 25kV planned for CACR, neither are particularly conducive to an individual's health. |
Then, there’s the land acquisition issue. *Sigh*… Now, to be fair, pushback against CACR has been surprisingly mild so far, a welcome change to the hysteria facing Cork’s LUAS plans. That being said, a group of NIMBY’s out near Midleton have gotten it in their head to stop the entire project because an access road to the planned new depot will be running too close to their houses. I will not be giving these evolutionary cul-de-sacs the satisfaction of linking to the website they’re using to air their “concerns” and skew the ongoing consultation, but it’s a clear sign that the road ahead may not be as clear as the planners or I, would like. Keep in mind that most stations will require some sort of land acquisition for access roads, car parks, electricity substations and other similar infrastructure, and one recalcitrant land owner could shut the entire project down for ages.
Yet, at the same time, CACR is the one public transport project in Cork that is likely to be implemented in full. A lot of the prep work is already done, or will be done shortly. The stations at Blackpool & Dunkettle are being accelerated, and the project forms a cornerstone of the electrification of Irish Rail’s most important railway corridor. Getting all of this done by 2032 is ambitious, no doubt. But given everything I’ve seen and heard, I genuinely believe that Irish Rail can achieve this.
At the time of publication, the second public consultation for CACR is still open. I would rail-ly appreciate if you could take some time to check out the plans in detail and leave a submission in support of the project. And no, I won't apologise for that horrible pun!
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