The annual National Rail Census
The annual National Rail Census captures the number of individuals boarding and alighting at each station in the country on a single day of the year.
It provides a snapshot of patronage across the country at all stations and on all services on the day of the survey. It is not intended to represent an accurate picture of overall rail service usage, which instead is recorded in Iarnród Éireann’s annual patronage data. Though the rail census data is subject to variation each year based on factors like operating conditions, weather, and service delays, it is nonetheless a useful barometer of trends over time.
178,262 passenger journeys
Overall, on census day, there were 178,262 passenger journeys across the network; this is an increase of 12% compared to 2022. Iarnród Éireann reported 45.5m passenger journeys in the year 2023, which is an increase of 27% compared to 2022 when 35.8m journeys were recorded.
Changes in rail usage in the Greater Dublin Area in 2023
This report provides an overview of the 2023 National Rail Census and discusses the changes in rail journeys throughout the country. It also sets out the changes in rail usage in the GDA in 2023 and over the previous years. Please note that no survey took place in 2020 on account of the Covid-19 pandemic and thus this year is missing from the annual datasets throughout this report.
Previous years:
- NTA National Rail Census Report 2022
- NTA National Rail Census Report 2021
- NTA Heavy Rail Census Report 2019
Iarnród Éireann commissioned Amárach Research to carry out the annual National Rail Census on behalf of the National Transport Authority on 9th November 2023. The 2023 National Rail Census (hereinafter referred to as “the Census”) is the eleventh national Census. Prior to 2012, the census was limited to the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) comprising the counties of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, and Wicklow.
