North Quays, Waterford City
“Quarter 2, 2026” is when we can expect to see trains start to use the new Waterford’s new train station on the North Quays, according to Irish Rail CEO Jim Meade in response to questions raised by Green Party TD for Waterford Marc Ó Cathasaigh. Mr Meade was speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport where he was questioned on a number of Waterford and South East rail issues by Deputy Ó Cathasaigh.
Deputy Ó Cathasaigh said “We are seeing a huge increase in the numbers of people using public transport nationally but our infrastructure has to keep up with this pent-up demand. Unfortunately, our rail service has suffered as a result of decades of underinvestment and now that the tide has turned on that, thanks to the investment in the area by my colleague, Minister Eamon Ryan, I want to see that investment yield results for Waterford and the South East as soon as possible. We have the Integrated Transport Hub which will sit on the North Quays side of the Sustainable Transport Bridge which is currently under construction. The new train station is a lynchpin of that hub and I wanted to know if everything was moving as expected and when we could expect to see trains using the new station.”
In response, Mr Meade said: “We are pretty much on target for Quarter 2 in 2026 to do the transfer”, adding that there are ‘no issues with the contractor’. ‘They’re really getting stuck into delivering, delivering well and delivering on time”. Mr Meade added that from Irish Rail’s perspective, the project is ‘going well and on target for Quarter 2, 2026’.
The new Transport Hub will be a first for Ireland with train, bus, taxi services in one location easily accessed on foot or by bike. It will be connected to the city centre by the new bridge and it will form a key part of the entire North Quays development which will include offices, apartments, conference facilities, a hotel and retail space. It will also be connect the Waterford and South East Greenways resulting it being a key part of Waterford’s tourism infrastructure.
