Irish Rail recently announced changes to their timetable for the winter schedule.
While they had previously acknowledged that the Dublin – Waterford route, which serves Carlow, is busy and that demand existed for later trains, they hadn’t been able to address that. The new timetable goes some way to addressing the shortfall.
The last train from Dublin Heuston to Carlow (and Waterford) will now depart at 2020, while the last train in the other direction from Waterford to Dublin, will leave Waterford at 2137. It’s a move in the right direction, but is still quite a bit off the kind of timetable on routes like Cork – Cobh or Cork – Midleton or Dublin to any of the commuter towns closer to the city.