TRAIN services between Limerick and Ennis have been closed due to flooding and bus services are now in operation instead.
The rail line will be closed until further notice. This is due to flooding at Ballycar, an area which has seen a number of significant flood events in recent years, and the bus transfers are expected to continue for a number of weeks.
Customers should note that all services between Limerick and Ennis will be substituted by bus, except on Sunday at 6.50 Limerick to Ennis and 21.40 Ennis to Limerick.
All services between Limerick and Galway will be substituted by bus between Limerick and Ennis, with train between Ennis and Galway
Sixmilebridge Station will have bus transfers to/from Limerick and Ennis, but on a reduced frequency.
Iarnród Éireann will monitor flood levels which are continuing to rise, and advise customers on likely service restoration dates when flood levels begin to recede and the company apologises for the inconvenience caused.
Full service details are available at at www.irishrail.ie
Ballycar
The railway track at Ballycar Lough has flooded on a number of occasions in recent years. This flooding has led to temporary closures of the railway line for extended periods of up to 20 weeks at a time, although this closure is not expected to be as prolonged.
Flood waters rose to a maximum height of 1.60m above the railway track during some flood events, despite works which saw Iarnród Éireann has previously raised the track level by 60 centimetres at Ballycar in 2003 to mitigate against the effects of flooding. In addition to causing disruption to rail services, these flood events also caused disruption to the water supply to Newmarket on Fergus as well as blocking local roads and restricting access to farming lands.
Ballycar Lough and its environs lie within a geological and hydrogeological environment where the underlying limestone rock and thin covering of soil and bedrock exposure
combine to produce a shallow network of springs, turloughs and disappearing streams. The causes of flooding at Ballycar Lough are mainly the prolonged sustained rainfall in
Ballycar Lough catchment and the slow outflow stream of Ballycar Lough located between the swallow hole and the spring.
