Commuter chaos: Kilkenny rail users will be forced onto buses to complete journey

Kilkenny people using Irish Rail services today could be in for a nasty shock when they are asked to leave their carriages and board buses.

The national rail operator has announced it is to undertake some line improvements on the Kilkenny to Dublin Heuston line and will be asking passengers to get off the train at Athy and complete their journey to Dublin by bus.

Three services will be affected, with the journeys expected to take up to 30 minutes longer than is scheduled. The cost of the journey will remain the same.

The services affected are the 19:02 Waterford to Dublin Heuston service which will operate as a train between Waterford, then Kilkenny and Athy and as a bus transfer between Athy and Heuston.

The 17:35 and 18.35 Dublin Heuston to Waterford service will operate as a bus transfer between Heuston and Athy, and then resume the journey by train to Kilkenny and Waterford.

The line improvements will be completed Saturday night and all services will return to normal on Sunday.