IRISH RAIL IS running additional services, including some late night trains, this weekend in preparation for the crowds gathering in Dublin for the Six Nations and St Patrick’s Day parade.

On Saturday, extra DART services will be running to cater for rugby fans attending the Ireland VS Scotland Six Nations finale game in the Aviva Stadium.

The additional services will operate before and after the match. Grand Canal Dock station will be closed between 6.20pm and 8pm, during the match, to accommodate garda crowd control operations.

One additional Commuter service will operate between Longford and Dublin Connolly at 12.55pm and one additional Intercity service will operate from Dublin Heuston to Cork, with a connection to Limerick, at 8.50pm.

Irish Rail wants to remind passengers that those wanting to travel on the Heuston to Cork Service on Saturday must book their ticket in advance on their website or on their app.

Two separate Intercity services have also been pushed back, the 7.15pm Dublin Connolly to Sligo service is deferred to 8.10pm, and the 7pm Dublin Connolly to Belfast service is deferred to 7.40pm.

Sunday

On Sunday, extra DART and Commuter trains will be running  from Howth, Malahide, Bray, Greystones, Maynooth, Longford and Dundalk into the City centre before and after the parade as well as late night trains out of town to shuttle parade-goers to and from festivities.

Customers have also been reminded that Tara Street station will be closed from the beginning of the parade at 12pm until after it has concluded at 4pm and are advised to use Dublin Connolly or Pearse Station between those hours.

The following trains will operate after midnight on DART and Commuter routes, serving all stations unless otherwise stated:

• 12.20am Pearse to Maynooth
• 12.30am Pearse to Howth
• 12.30am Connolly to Greystones
• 12.40am Pearse to Dundalk (serving Tara St, Connolly, Howth Junction and then all stations to Dundalk)
• 12.50am Pearse to Kildare (serving Tara St, Connolly, Drumcondra, and all stations ParkWest to Kildare)

The timetable for Intercity services and the Cork Commuter service will remain unchanged on Sunday.

On Monday, all services will operate on the usual Sunday/Bank Holiday timetable arrangements.