IARNRÓD ÉIREANN has confirmed details of fare increases to be rolled out on its InterCity routes next month.

The increases follow the formal approval of the new fares by the National Transport Authority earlier today.

The new regime, kicking in on February 4, will see 143 fare bands increased by between 0.6 and 13.3 per cent – though 66 other fare bands will see prices fall, by between 0.8 and 29.4 per cent. Another 15 bands will be unchanged.

In parallel to this, the NTA has also approved a new ticketing structure for InterCity routes – with three basic ticket types: single, day return, and open return.

Fares will also be set according to route types, with three different ticketing grades – ‘Express’, ‘Economy 1′ and ‘Economy 2′ – depending on the speed of the particular train making the journey.

Iarnród Éireann said the fares seeing the highest increase were those which were “most anomalous in distance pricing” under the new model, and that fares to Galway and Rosslare were being cut on a similar basis so that they were closer to the fares for Sligo and Waterford.

It added that for fares over €25, today’s increases were the first revisions in over three years.

A full analysis of the new pricing structure is available in Appendix B of this NTA document (page 13).

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Previously: Dart and Commuter fares set to rise from January 4