Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations gives disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility the following rights:
In Ireland the National Transport Authority is the National Enforcement Body for the Regulation.
Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail operates city and commuter services in Dublin and Cork, as well as intercity services throughout Ireland.
You can call Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail here ( 7am – 7pm weekdays, 8am – 6pm weekends, 10am – 6pm Sundays and Public Holidays) or contact your local station if you require assistance on Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail services.
More information is available on the Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail website.
Under the Disability Act 2005, all Government Offices are required to appoint one or more Access Officers. At Iarnród Éireann we want to provide a helpful and safe service to all our passengers.
Some of our passengers have a disability and not all disabilities are always visible. All our staff have been trained to aid to the highest standard giving assistance when requested.
The Iarnród Éireann Access officer can be contacted – with details provided here: Iarnród Éireann Accessibility – Access Officer
Iarnród Éireann endeavours to assist all customers with disabilities to travel on our rail services.
Guide for Rail Passengers with Disabilities 2020 (PDF 397KB)
This section outlines our accessibilty policy for Intercity and commuter services as listed below:
When you have decided to travel by train, where possible, please let us know in advance of your travel requirements so that arrangements can be made for you to have as comfortable a journey as possible. If it is not possible to contact us, we will do our utmost to provide assistance.
Our staff will use ramps to help you on or off our trains if required. For the below stations, an hour's notice is required to ensure staff can be deployed to assist you on or off your service.
24 hours advance notice needs to be given for all other stations to ensure staff can be deployed to assist you on or off your service.
At some stations there is a gap between the platform and the carriages which may create difficulty for people who are visually impaired or have mobility impairments and assistance may be required when boarding or alighting from the train.
The more information we have about the assistance you require, the better we will be able to assist you.
When contacting us, please give the following details:
If you need to cancel a journey for which special arrangements have been made, please let us know so that staff can be made available to assist others.
The JAM Card was created by NOW Group, a social enterprise that supports people with learning difficulties and autism into jobs with a future and their service users told them that they would like a way to relay to people that they need a little extra time or patience.
Find out more about NOW Group at nowgroup.org and JAM Card at jamcard.org.
For those with a learning difficulty, autism, Asperger’s or any condition where there can be a communication barrier, the JAM Card allows users to relay to others that they may need a little extra time in a simple, effective non-verbal manner. The JAM Card is useful when on public transport, in a retail or any other customer facing environment.
There are 3 message options to choose from:
You can get your JAM Card from Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail train stations and online - at the following link:
JAM Card - Transport for Ireland
You can pick up an JAM Card at one of the following stations;
Connolly Station, Dublin
Pearse Station, Dublin
Heuston Station, Dublin
Kent Station, Cork
Ceannt Station, Galway
Colbert Station, Limerick
Plunkett Station, Waterford
MacDiarmada Station, Sligo
All our station car parks have designated car parking spaces for European Parking Card holders. They are provided at a convenient location on a concrete or tarmac surface, with dropped kerbs and non-slip pavements where appropriate. To see more information on station accessibility see the Iarnród Éireann dedicated station pages.
There are a limited number of wheelchair accessible spaces on each train, it is important therefore that you book your space in advance.
We can accommodate wheelchair or powered scooters up to 700mm in width and 1200 mm long (including footplates) height 1435mm including occupant a maximum weight of 300kg including occupant and a turning radius of 900mm.
For the comfort of all customers, Rollators must be folded and stored in the luggage racks. Where travelling with an oxygen tank, please call us on 0818 366222 to arrange suitable assistance and seating arrangements.
For safety reasons if your wheelchair or mobility scooter is larger that the permitted dimensions, we cannot accept it as the wheelchair or scooter may not be able to turn corners on board the train.
As scooters come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, many have problems on trains, such as being unable to manoeuvre safely inside a carriage. These problems mean that trains cannot carry some scooters, if you are a scooter user who wants to travel by rail, you should contact the station to ensure your scooter can be accommodated.
Iarnród Éireann undertakes to make every reasonable effort to ensure that disabled passengers can obtain a seat on a train. Seats may be booked online at www.irishrail.ie. Usually, this will be a designated Priority Seat.
Guide or Assistance dogs are welcome on all Iarnród Éireann services and in train stations.
The Quieter carriage has been reintroduced on all Heuston to Cork services to improve services for customers with sensory issues, and following public feedback.
The Quieter carriage (carriage G) is now bookable online for the first time and the carriage is clearly marked with purple branding when booking online and also on the outside of the carriage when boarding the train.
For more details please see our FAQ section or Quieter carriage news story.
Iarnród Éireann has a new improved zonal accessibility policy to provide a better service and quicker response times for DART, Maynooth, Cork and Northern Commuter and Dublin Connolly to Balbriggan accessibility users.
This policy divides the 31 stations on the DART, Maynooth and Northern Commuter line into 13 zones, with each zone including between one to four stations. For the Cork Commuter line, 10 stations are divided into one zone. One station in each zone will always manned (a Hub station) and will provide support to other stations in that zone (Non Hub stations).
EXAMPLE:
For more information download our DART Improved Accessibility Guide or why not try the handy wallet sized guide.
Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail are now exploring a new way its customers can book assisted travel services through a prototype app that has the potential to improve the experience for all, delivering a more streamlined and efficient passenger assistance service. Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail are currently looking for passengers to test this prototype. See here for more details.
All DART stations have electronic information screens and/or public address announcements.
Not all DART, Maynooth and Northern Commuter stations have parking, please check your station before travelling. For stations with car parks, they have designated car parking spaces for European Parking Card holders. They are provided at a convenient location on a concrete or tarmac surface, with dropped kerbs and non-slip pavements where appropriate.
All DART, Maynooth and Northern Commuter stations have automated ticket barriers with at least one wider gate for wheelchair users or others who may need it. One gate always remains open when stations are unmanned.
Guide/Assistant dogs working and in training are permitted to travel on all Iarnród Éireann services without restriction, as long as they are always clearly identifiable by coat or harness.
Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail staff will use ramps to help you on or off the trains if required. 4 hours advance notice is recommended to ensure staff can be redeployed to assist you on or off the services.
At some stations there is a gap between the platform and the carriages which may create difficulty for people who are visually impaired or have mobility impairments and assistance may be required when boarding or alighting from the train.
Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail can accommodate wheelchair or powered scooters up to 700mm in width and 1200 mm long (including footplates) height 1435mm including occupant a maximum weight of 300kg including occupant and a turning radius of 900mm.
For safety reasons if your wheelchair or mobility scooter is larger that the permitted dimensions, Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail cannot accept it as the wheelchair or scooter may not be able to turn corners on board the train.
As scooters come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, many have problems on trains, being unable to manoeuvre safely inside a carriage.
These problems mean that trains cannot carry some scooters, if you are a scooter-user who wants to travel by rail, you should inform your departure station when contacting them to ensure your scooter can be accommodated.
Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail will update Station Information pages, Journey Planner and our Realtime Applications weekly with information that may affect a customers journey. This information is highlighted to the customer using a “Travel Alert” through the various channels
Sensory packs are available for customers with additional sensory challenges. These packs contain ear defenders, sunglasses and a fidget spinner and are distributed to customers travelling by rail with additional needs. These packs are free of charge and can be obtained by filling in the below form.
