Rail travel in Ireland Travel Guide — Things to Do, Food & Hotels
Transport Infrastructure
About Rail travel in Ireland
Ireland's first railway opened in 1834 to connect Dublin to its port of Kingstown, nowDún Laoghaire. As in Great Britain, the Irish rail network grew during the 19th century but on a much smaller scale. The terrain was lowland and not difficult to cross, but the population was thinner (especially after the disastrous Famine) and there were fewer industrial customers for freight traffic. In the 1840s the two islands adopted standard gauges for all their tracks but with different widths. Great Britain's was 1435 mm which became the "standard gauge" for many countries, Ireland chose 1600 mm, so its coaches have a little more elbow-room. The mythology arose that GB standard gauge derived from the ruts of Roman chariots. Ireland's gauge happened to match the Diolkos (Δίολκος) by which ships wer
Rail travel in Ireland Travel Guide Sections
Our comprehensive guide covers 7 sections including: