The line is one of the longest in Ireland at 266 kilometres (165 mi) and is used by both InterCity and Commuter services. Services to Waterford branch off at Cherryville Junction, after Kildare, and to Westport and Galway after Portarlington. Although there are some direct services to Limerick, most services require a change at either Limerick Junction or Ballybrophy (the latter travelling onward via the Limerick-Ballybrophy railway line). Services to Tralee via Killarney and Farranfore (for Kerry Airport) run from Mallow. Commuter services run on both the South Western Commuter line between Dublin and Kildare or Portlaoise and Cork Commuter line between Mallow and Cobh. Iarnród Éireann, the Irish state railway company, has invested heavily in improving the infrastructure and rolling stock. It has had both its track and signalling upgraded in the last few years thanks to funding from the government's National Development Plan - beginning in 1977, the line was upgraded to continuous welded rail, while the introduction of Centralised Traffic Control means that signalling is controlled from a single location at Dublin Connolly station. In 2006, the first of 67 new Mark 4 coaches were introduced on the route as part of a €117 million upgrade of rolling stock. These seven new 8-car sets provide an hourly service frequency between Dublin and Cork. Although Dublin Heuston is the terminus, the line connects to Dublin Connolly via the Phoenix Park Tunnel. This route is used for both passenger and freight services, as well as rolling stock movements to the main Iarnród Éireann works at Inchicore, just south of Heuston. It is occasionally also used for special passenger services to Dublin Connolly, usually for Gaelic games events at Croke Park. Built by the Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR), it connects the largest and second-largest cities in the state. It connects with lines to other destinations, including Galway, Waterford, Westport, Limerick and Tralee. Construction began in 1844, when the GS&WR built a line from Kingsbridge Station (now Heuston Station, Dublin) to Cashel in County Tipperary, later extended to Cork. Amalgamations between the GS&WR and other smaller railway companies in the south led to the line gaining connections to other population centres. A branch from Portarlington to Athlone was built to connect with the Midland Great Western Railway to Galway. There are 14 daily services between Dublin Heuston - Cork Kent (Monday - Saturday) Departing hourly on the hour. There are 15 daily services between Cork Kent - Dublin Heuston (Monday - Friday) Departing hourly at 25-past-the-hour and 14 daily on Saturday. On Sundays, there are 10 services between Cork Kent - Dublin Heuston. In 2015, a morning service started which ran non-stop from Cork-Dublin. This service departs Cork Kent at 06:15 AM and arrives at Dublin Heuston in 2 hours 15 minutes, at 08:30 AM. Since then, in an extra service from Cork to Dublin than Dublin to Cork, the 21:00 train from Dublin is formed of a 3+4 car Class 22000 train which splits in Cork to operate 2 services to Dublin. In 2016 Irish rail brought the 2 Mk4 sets that were out of service back into service which freed up some ICR sets The route length is approximately 165 miles. And there are 18 stations on the route Connecting the capital with the ever-bustling major Irish hub, trains are undoubtedly among the most convenient ways of traveling. Running from Dublin to Cork, the modern, well-equipped means of transport provide a fast, safe, and comfortable journey. Most of the travels in between the two destinations are direct and only take up to three hours to complete (The photos above were taken from the "Classic Railway Journeys Of The West by Max Wade-Matthews" published in 2000) Here are some videos of the route: References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin–Cork_railway_line https://rail.ninja/route/dublin-to-cork
