Irish Rail sees passenger numbers rise by 650,000

Irish Rail has recorded an increase of over half a million passengers in the first six months of this year.

The train company says 650,000 extra people used its services between January and June.

That is an increase of 3.5%.

Iarnród Éireann says the growth was mainly felt on its Dart services.

Communications manager with Iarnród Éireann, Barry Kenny, said that more people in employment means more reason to travel.

"With the strongest growth in the DART and commuter sector, the economy plays a huge role in that - more people in employment means more reason to travel, and that extends through to the type of leisure and business travel that you see in Inter-City as well," he said.

"The DART - I suppose the growth started there probably in about mid-2013 in terms of acceleration - and the Inter-City has been catching up since as well."