Train travel from Dublin to Belfast

We are traveling from Dublin to Belfast on 13 July 2024 and having trouble finding clear information about train travel. Are the trains running that day? Is there any holiday schedule?

Hi Lori,

It's lovely to hear that you will be heading up to Belfast soon!

Irish Rail runs the train service as you may well know. There is on going planned works at Belfast Grand Central station which runs until July 5th so it could be affecting their timetable schedule information as not many tickets are online at the moment after 3rd July in general. I would suggest that you keep checking with their website as the time gets closer. 🚉

As an alternative, there are bus services from Dublin to Belfast. These take about the same length of time and can also be booked online. Translink operates the bus and train service in Northern Ireland and they have a X1 service that you can travel on directly.🚌

Transport for Ireland has a handy journey planner for operators too. The services generally run via Dublin Airport to Belfast so it does involve a service change. Details can be found using the link to their website.

Hopefully, this will help with your journey.

The 12th July is a Public Holiday in Northern Ireland, but this shouldn't affect the trains or buses.

What have you planned for your time in Dublin and also Belfast?

Hi, we’re from Belgium and plan a 6 day trip in Ireland with our sons. We will take the train to Belfast from Dublin next week. I booked train tickets for 4 people, I received a code to pick up the traintickets at the Dublin train station. I was wondering how this works: we just pick up our train tickets and have free choice of seats? 
Is there also room for our luggage on the train? Thanks for the tips!

Hi Michelle,

How exciting that you are taking a family trip to Ireland!

You can pick up your train tickets at the machines on Dublin station - you can choose collect tickets and put in the code you have received by e-mail.

Your tickets will be printed then, and your allocated seats are printed on the bottom of your ticket.
Your reservation number or name will be displayed above the seat as well.

Please not that due to railworks there is a transfer to a bus between Newry and Belfast.

Let me know if you need any other help, and enjoy your trip!

Alinde

Thanks for your kind reaction, we were indeed in the meanwhile informed by Irishrail that there will be railworks and that we will have to travel mainly by bus (where no allocated or assigned seating). But that's no problem, it adds a little extra adventure to our trip :)
Kind regards and have a nice day! 

Hi Michelle,

It's great to see you finding the silver lining in the switch from train to bus. Think of it as a bonus tour; who knows what unexpected sights you'll discover along the way! 😊

If anything else pops up, or if you have more questions as you pack up and plan, don’t hesitate to drop a line. Enjoy every moment, and may your journey be filled with delightful surprises and wonderful memories! ✨

Cheers,
Arvind