Train routes in Ireland. & Northern Ireland

Thanks for the clarification. So, there is no discount on the bus tickets in Ireland, right? 

I was trying to get closer to Belturbet via train and I thought Carrick On Shannon would be good but there are no direct buses from there to Belturbet. 

I see some other train routes on the map of Ireland Railways (Google search) but those are not showing on the Eurail planner app.

Wondering if there are any train services that can be added manually and where can I find those routes?

Thanks!

What the Rail Planner app says is irrelevant. It's incomplete, unreliable and often out of date. Please don't use it to plan.

For the republic of Ireland, use www.irishrail.ie to plan. For Northern Ireland www.translink.co.uk.

Your pass is valid on all trains you'll find there. You can add manually any trains that you still don't find in the Rail Planner app on the day you travel.

From London the most direct route to Dublin is via Holyhead.

On that journey the Eurail pass will only get you as far as Holyhead.

You can use your pass to get a discount of around 30% on the ferry foot passenger fares, The fares vary between £15 and £60, Irish Ferries currently have a sale on if booked before the end of April.

The two ferry companies are www.irishferries.com and www.stenaline.co.uk

An alternative to using an Eurail pass day and separate foot passenger ticket is to buy Sail-Rail tickets these cost £53.40 or £60.10 from any British station to Holyhead and the ferry to Dublin port.

There is a bus from the ferry terminals to the city in Dublin, this is not included in any of the ferry tickets.

The Expressway 30 from Dublin is by far the best option to get to Belturbet, while there are stations geographically closer than Dublin there are no useful public transport options from anywhere you could get to by rail.

There are no discounts for passholders on bus services in Ireland.

Since there are no discounts on the buses for Eurail pass, would it make sense to buy a 1-day local pass that would include buses? Although I have a Global Unlimited 3-mobth pass and using/saving travel days is not an issue in this case... just wondering...

Would the Expressway Bus Route 30 be included in such a pass?

Thanks!

There is no such pass in ROI for the whole country, most long distance express buses are commercial services run by a variety of operators and no multi-operator tickets or day passes exist.

A day ticket for all train and bus in Northern Ireland run by state operator Translink is available as well as tickets for the Greater Dublin region but nothing that would be of use for getting to Belturbet.

When you mentioned TransLink, I had an idea that maybe we could take the Northern Ireland Route from Belfast to Maguiresbridge which is close to where I am going?

Would it make sense to get local bus passes for a family of four on TransLink? Are these day passes only or longer?

Thanks!

Day passes are generally only good value if making more than one journey per day, the www.translink.co.uk  website has a journey planner that will advise on tickets, the day ticket is called i-link (zone 1-4,all of NI) and is £20 for an adult, £10.50 child. It would be cheaper than a regular return fafe for  Belfast - Maguiresbridge and back on the same day.

There are day and week i-link fares, i-link is issued on a reloadable smartcard, one per person, there is no family card, for more than one day you can add extra days for £19 adult, £9.50 child. It can be bought at major train/bus stations.

You are going to somewhere between Belturbet and Maguiresbridge, there is certainly nowhere walkable from both so make sure to arrange transport from the bus stop whichever route you take,

I have a good idea where you might be going to, perhaps it’s on an Island?

From Dublin it will take much longer going via Belfast.

With all due respect to the good folk of Belturbet . . . it’s just not really a major destination so your connection options are going to be limited.

Starting in London, the optimum route is going to be the one you outlined earlier - train to Holyhead, boat to Dublin, local bus in Dublin from the port to the city centre, then Expressway (or possibly some other route) to Belturbet.

Once you are in Dublin, getting a train to anywhere close to Belturbet is just going to introduce delays and complexity.

You could check out potential links from any of the stations between Edgeworthstown and Carrick on Shannon - https://www.irishrail.ie/en-ie/travel-information/station-and-route-maps/ireland-rail-map - but honestly, the trains on that route are neither fast nor frequent so unless you really want to make things more awkward for yourself you should go with your first idea.

If you really want to maximise your train time you could get the train to Sligo, bus to Donegal, and then the route 30 (in the opposite direction) back to Belturbet.  Draw it on a map first though and see if you really want to endure it.

In Holyhead, foot passengers are brought to all boats by bus.  You can’t walk on, but you can travel as a foot passenger.  Note that there are some Irish Ferries sailings which do not take any foot passengers at all, but you will see this when you go to book.

Yes Sir, right on the dot! We are headed to Krishna Island for Easter weekend.

Thanks for the tip... and have decided to take the bus from Belfast instead of Dublin. 

Thanks for the tip, Sir! I am convinced from your reply that the added complexity in reducing the bus travel time is not worth it!