[PR] Attymon & Woodlawn Stations - Temporary Closures

Victor

http://www.iarnrodeireann.ie/news_centre/general_news.asp?action=view&news_id=163

http://www.iarnrodeireann.ie/news_centre/general_news.asp?action=view&news_id=171

Transport21 Fan

Both these almost pointless stations should be closed for good. Woodlawn was built for some Manor House, while Attymon was the junction for the old Loughrea line which closed in the 70's I think.

Closing these archaic, barely used stations would significantly speed up times on the Dublin-Galway train.

Only in Ireland would you have a situation were the Dublin-Galway train stops at two stations in the middle of nowhere and then speeds through Oranmore as if it does not exsist.

What next, the northern section of the Western Rail Corridor being worked on before the Dublin Metro...:eek:

John R

Out of 16 trains daily (Mon-Sat) 8 stop at Woodlawn and 4 at Attymon.

They are not well used, the replacement bus service could probably be run with a taxi.

Removing those two stops would potentially save about 6-8mns per trip but in the current timetable the waits at crossing points seems to be a more significant delaying factor.

Could you just imagine the outcry if two stations IN THE WEST were closed.

Transport21 Fan

Oh I agree, the West of Ireland Professional Whingers and Stigmata lobby and their British trainspotter holiday lobby on eh, "Irish" Railway News would not allow this to happen.

I seem to recall a story concerning some nutcase back in the 1990's who chained himself to a level crossing gate at Woodlawn and held up the Dublin-Galway train for several hours when a downgrade of the station was proposed. I would nearly bet money that he never even used the train in the same way that WestonTrack have no intention of using the Western Rail Corridor.

What amazes me most, is that carry on it is really self-defeating. Rail services into the West, both from a rail transport and their beloved "regional develpment" perspective would be greatly enhanced by closing Attymon and Woodlawn stations down and opening up a new one at Oranmore.

The same situation exsists on the Sligo Line. The civil and railway engineering work currently at Dromod is quite intense, and yet the Sligo town of Balisodare which is a growing and fairly populated commuter town has a closed station. Dromod is a tiny, and I mean TINY village with a very small rail user base.

Which would be bad enough but the Dublin Metro is still a line on a piece of paper...!

jlang

But the current closures are for upgrade works! Maybe Galway Co Co is planning to set up Woodlawn and Attymon as New Towns - Adamstowns of the West!

MarkoP11

With the introduction of the new intercity railcars they need to increase the platform lengths for safety reasons

Its only in recent years that it became a requirement for the platform to be at least as long as the train, a blanket exemption exists for trains types that called at those stations before that came in

Woodlawn is a joke its only got a single platform anyway, Woodlawn and Attymon serve little or no purpose

Galway CC and Galway City Councils development plans are focused on the corridor to Oranmore and Athenry with 4 additional stations between Galway to Oranmore

enterprise

Attymon's purpose has changed since the Dec 2004 timetable. If anybody cared to check their facts before ranting on here they would see that the only trains to call at Attymon are the:

0705 Athlone / Galway
0710 Heuston / Galway

&

1830 Galway / Heuston
2110 Galway / Athlone

Attymon's clear role today and into the future is to provide a commuter service into Galway.

With regards to Woodlawn out of a total of 8 trains to Galway and 8 trains from Galway only 4 trains call at Woodlawn to Galway and 4 trains from Galway to Woodlawn. Again as with Attymon, Woodlawn's role is to provide a commuter service into Galway and a also limited service to Dublin.

A non-issue I think with regards to T21's ranting post, whats new there?

ishmael whale

enterprise wrote:

Attymon's clear role today and into the future is to provide a commuter service into Galway.

I think the key point is more does anyone actually use the station - how many passengers get on and off. Simply asserting a service to be 'commuter' is meaningless unless quantaties of people are actually using it, and is downright misleading if its intended to draw attention away from the fact that commuter services in other areas are lacking.

KC61

Removing a stop on a train will only accelerate the service by three minutes...nothing more (30 seconds each for decelerating and accelerating, and 2 minutes dwell time). Given that the services stopping at Attymon are the commuter services to/from Galway I hardly think that three minutes is going to make that much difference.

Transport21 Fan

enterprise wrote:

Attymon's clear role today and into the future is to provide a commuter service into Galway.

yes, it is such a metropolis catering to a huge population and every last one of them use the train...

enterprise wrote:

A non-issue I think with regards to T21's ranting post, whats new there?

What none issue? That the whole West of Ireland rail agenda is stupid, misfocussed, based on upgrades to rural halts while it ignores towns with population of nearly 10,000 and dilutes the entire potential of rail transport in the West?

Attymon Metroland...hmm?