Ennis - Transport

Transport

Ennis is served by both bus and rail links to all major cities and towns in Ireland. The main bus depot is adjacent to the town's train station and both are located about one kilometre distance from the town centre. The station is situated on the Clon Road toward the east of the town, which links to the main N18 in either direction.

Bus services are provided to Shannon Airport, Galway, Limerick, Cork, Dublin and all routes in between and run nearly every hour. Shannon Airport is 15 minutes from Ennis, providing daily flights to European and US destinations.

In 1976 passenger trains were withdrawn on the railway line from Limerick to Claremorris via Ennis. County Clare thus became the only Irish county outside Ulster without a passenger train service. The closure of Ennis station proved to be only temporary; twenty rail services per day are now provided to and from Limerick City, from where connecting rail services are available to both Dublin and Cork. The Western Railway Corridor north of Ennis (to Athenry and Galway) reopened 30 March 2010 with 5 return services daily. The next phases, to Tuam and Claremorris, originally scheduled to reopen by 2014, is subject to budget review.

Ennis was formerly the starting point of the West Clare Railway, a narrow gauge railway which ran from Ennis to Ennistymon, Miltown Malbay and onwards to the towns and villages along the West Clare coastline. Trains ran from the same railway station as still used by mainline Irish railway services. The line was CIÉ's last narrow gauge railway and was finally closed in 1961, despite investment in new diesel trains in the early/mid 1950s.