Reopened Athlone-Mullingar - 6,800 Passengers Per Week - IE Estimate

Transport21 Fan

http://www.midlandsradio.fm/news_detail.aspx?news_id=2468

New report on reopening of Mullingar-Athlone rail link

New plans to re-open the Mullingar to Athlone raillink are being presented to the Minister for Transport today.

Westmeath County Council, Iarnroid Eireann and Athlone IT have made submissions to the report which estimates 6,800 passengers would use the rail line per week.

Last year the Martin Cullen requested a detailed land use plan centred on the railway line in order to give further consultation to the proposal.

The expert study group found that the capital cost for the project would be 84 million euro, almost half that estimated by the government in the Strategic Rail Review.

jjbrien

if they reopen the Mullingar Athlone line they will have to re do the old platforms 1 and 2 which are in very seroius disrepair. They will have have to put the tracks back the way they were with 2 tracks at platform 1 and 2, 2 more tracks on the existing sligo platmorms 3 and 4 and also the wierd platform 5 which is never used but they liaded new tracks there anway.

But let bring them it on. I really hope to see this line opened

Slice

Would it not make sense to route the Dublin-Galway trains on this route or is there some reason not to? Perhaps that would relieve congestion leading into Heuston given that that line now requires four tracks?

jjbrien

Slice wrote:

Would it not make sense to route the Dublin-Galway trains on this route or is there some reason not to? Perhaps that would relieve congestion leading into Heuston given that that line now requires four tracks?

It would make alot of sence but they would need to double track from Mullingar to Maynooth to cope with the extra trains.

maxheadroom

Slice wrote:

Would it not make sense to route the Dublin-Galway trains on this route or is there some reason not to? Perhaps that would relieve congestion leading into Heuston given that that line now requires four tracks?

Wasn't this the original route between Dublin and Galway?

MarkoP11

maxheadroom wrote:

Wasn't this the original route between Dublin and Galway?

The original route was via Mullingar

Problem is the Mullingar line is not suitable for any kind of serious speed, it will be 100mph limit from Inchicore to Portarlington (Curragh excepted) once the 4 track section goes in, but from a commuter prospective running via Mullingar offers better integration. If it was built as 2 tracks to whole way Maynooth Athlone (as it was originally) you could just match current Athlone Heuston times but thats unlikely

6,800 week is 350,000 a year, two and a half times the number between Limerick and Ennis a line of similar length

What you are looking at is a regional commuter line which also could take freight off the Portarlington section as well (freeing up intercity slots) as serve as a secondary intercity. Back in the 1980's it was regular practice to use the line to avoid breakdowns and engineering work. Athlone Moate is in fact signalled under computer control.

The line had full mainline status till 1976 and secondary status until the late 1980's. It stopped seeing trains when the mail trains and Asahi trains diverted

This is sensible stuff no victim complex, decent numbers and appears the local councils might get the planning to match

Slice

Come to think about it I don't suppose routing Galway-Dublin through Mullingar could be done until Spencer Dock is opened

dmeehan

what capacity is the line between mullingar and maynooth currently operting at?

GerardKeating

Slice wrote:

Come to think about it I don't suppose routing Galway-Dublin through Mullingar could be done until Spencer Dock is opened

A bigger problem wouuld be Athlone Station, the Current Station is on the Athlone-Portarlington branch, so would not be reachable by a Galway-Mullingar-Dublin train

Occidental

dmeehan wrote:

what capacity is the line between mullingar and maynooth currently operting at?

17(9 + 8)trains a day in total, although there is a concentration early morning and between 5 and 7 in the evening. Single track to Maynooth with passing points at Killucan, Enfield and Kilcock. Capacity on the track isn't currently a problem, but Maynooth-Connolly is, especially crossing the DART lines at Connolly.

Connolly-Athlone was all originaly double track and most of the trackbed is still there. Refurb of platforms at Mullingar would be required, along with new stations at Castletown and Moate. As pointed out, the current Athlone station is useless for this track and the old station west of the Shannon would need to be reopened. The level crossing on the Ballymahon Road would also cause problems, as traffic levels are very high here.

You could also run Limerick/Galway-Sligo services on this route, but I don't think that's what WOT had in mind.

jjbrien

Why did they close the old station at athlone anyway?

MarkoP11

Current one is deemed more central

Old station is still more or less intact, platforms are still there as is the passing loop which is used

The one issue which as cursed all attempts to get the line reopened is the station issue

Slice

Surely a solution to the Athlone station issue isn't that hard to come by?

I can't imagine it would represent a huge infrastructural investment to link the two lines before the current athlone station instead of after?

This, in the main, is what I find remarkable about Irish railways; seemingly simply solutions to railway infrastructure aren't implemented - for example, how hard would it be to link Cork-Limerick by commuter/regional rail given the fact that most of the railway infrastructure is already there, all that would be required is a spur on cork-dublin towards limerick utilising the Limerick-rosslare line at Limerick junction instead of the somewhat ridiculous situation at present where passengers have to change in the middle of nowhere.

In my opinion the same could be said of the Tralee branch; why isn't it looped onto the Cork-Dublin mainline in the direction of Cork instead of Dublin - that way regional towns could be linked to eachother instead of all of them radiating from Dublin where there is a capacity issue. Perhaps such actions would also go in someway to silencing the voices of those demanding the total reopening of the WRC...

Transport21 Fan

GerardKeating wrote:

A bigger problem wouuld be Athlone Station, the Current Station is on the Athlone-Portarlington branch, so would not be reachable by a Galway-Mullingar-Dublin train

Open both stations and have all Inter-City and Local services stop at them. This is normal practice all over the world. Nothing OTT about it. This would allow fantastic connections and rail travel options in the Midlands into the East and West. Athlone would be some rail travel centre if this happened.

But like Navan, even though it makes sense on paper and good passenger numbers, it fatally falls down by not having a preist rattling his rosary beads in Cullen's face so no chance of Athlone-Mullingar happening.

Cullen prefers the one-on-one "beeseeching" rather than a viable business plans for reopening rail lines.

MarkoP11

Slice wrote:

Surely a solution to the Athlone station issue isn't that hard to come by?

Its easy if you have the money

I can't imagine it would represent a huge infrastructural investment to link the two lines before the current athlone station instead of after?

The old station (which in fact was the primary station for decades) is on the west side of the Shannon, given the existing station might be close to the centre of Athlone it is still a fair walk in if someone had the guts you could revert to the old station, both have good access from the bypass, problem is there is only one one river crossing so getting around is quite roundabout

A deviation comes at a high price since you need a public inquiry, railway works order and all the hassle that goes with that. It would require a fair bit of CPO, add in the time at least 3 years before you could take a shovel out

for example, how hard would it be to link Cork-Limerick by commuter/regional rail given the fact that most of the railway infrastructure is already there, all that would be required is a spur on cork-dublin towards limerick utilising the Limerick-rosslare line at Limerick junction instead of the somewhat ridiculous situation at present where passengers have to change in the middle of nowhere.

There was in recent years a direct train to Limerick from Cork, it ceased to run, wasn't used the track is already in place no need for any reversing or other fun, in fact no need to stop

Transport21 Fan

In the early days of P11 we used to have a sweet slide for the presentations which showed a 1970's photo of the Dublin to Galway train from Connelly entering the Phoenix Park tunnel on its way from Galway via the Athlone-Mullingar line.

I guess that photo was faked too...:rolleyes:

Occidental

Mullingar line comes into Athlone north of the current station. It joins the Galway line just short of the Shannon and just after Athlone station. There's no room to reroute the track in Athlone as there's too many houses, roads and hills in the way. The only way I could imagine a reroute working would be if you ran the line south from Moate and joined way before you reach Athlone, but the costs would be horrendous.

Reopening the old station would be a much lesser evil. The town is starting to develop west of the Shannon, as most of the land on the eastern side has already been used up. The station is beside the barracks and industrial estate on the Shannon and could be in the centre of an apartment boom if either of these are redeveloped(which seems likely).

Transport21 Fan

Occidental wrote:

Reopening the old station would be a much lesser evil. The town is starting to develop west of the Shannon, as most of the land on the eastern side has already been used up. The station is beside the barracks and industrial estate on the Shannon and could be in the centre of an apartment boom if either of these are redeveloped(which seems likely).

Fix up the platform/few shelters and put a couple of ticket machines in. Close down Woodlawn and Attymon and reopen Moate station, and the "Galway" platform at Mullingar. You could even have a Mullingar-Athlone-Galway connecting service which waits for the Dublin - Sligo train at Mullingar (this would ease conflicts on the Dublin-Mullingar section). The possibilities are endless really and very exciting.

How many automatic level crossing barriers on the WRC would pay for all this above and in the process actually deliver the kick-ass, integrated national rail network with super connections and communiting/inter-city options into the West of Ireland AND the Midlands?

Athlone EAST and Athlone WEST stations. Sounds right dosen't it. A Midlands rail communiting network which feed into the east and the west of the country. People constantly take about rail communting outside Dublin being used to develop public transport in regional locations, and this a perfect example of how this could be achieved. Or is this too "palerail" for some people?

jjbrien

i think if they dont reopen this line themselfs they should offer it to a private company who will want to run a service and do a good job of it.

as for the question of the two stations in athlone you could run a suttle bus from one to the other.

Occidental

jjbrien wrote:

i think if they dont reopen this line themselfs they should offer it to a private company who will want to run a service and do a good job of it.

as for the question of the two stations in athlone you could run a suttle bus from one to the other.

You'd be quicker walking the tracks as the town bridge is a traffic nightmare.

Hmm..

Maybe we could run a travelator.

jjbrien

I know one poster on this form who would be very happy to have a travolator.

I do personally think this line could be used by the goverment to see if a private company could compete with IE. I know what IE will do if they would get some of the caravans carrages and an old engine in the 070 ranges. then pat themselfs on the back for a job well done

Ham'nd'egger

Ah, leave the old Cravens out of it, they deserve a good retirement.

Way back when, the MGWR and GSWR would have run the two stations in the town so there is a precedent set, albeit 100 years ago. From what I remember, the issues with the MGWR station included the location being far from the central town, no goods room in the old station and no real plans to use the Mullingar line, partly due to capacity in the Northern region. There was also an issue whereby if the Shannoon bridge was for some reason to be rendered unsafe, the town effectively was closed to rail traffic (This was back in the days when Galway and Westport were under closure threats) so for stragegic purposes the station had to be moved.

I wonder would a way out of it would be for a bay platform to be built as the junction is just to the west of the station now. It may be a little dearer to build but you have just one building to run so admin wise, it could be simpler.

GerardKeating

Transport21 Fan wrote:

Close down Woodlawn and Attymon

what did they ever do to you, they both get thier share of patrons.

While they might not justify a full InterCity service, an interesting option would be an Athlone-Galway Regional Rail serice which covered all stops (including a re-open Oranmore), and have the Full InterCity run non-stop.

When Galway eventually gets an hourly (or bi-hourly) InterCity service, the "Regional service" could leave 40 minutes before, stop at all the stops, providing both a regional service for those whom want to travel within the Galway-Athlone corridor, and provide a feeder service for the InterCity trains.

Transport21 Fan

GerardKeating wrote:

what did they ever do to you, they both get thier share of patrons.

I was down there on an assignment a few weeks back and I went to both stations to see what the passengers numbers were like, and at Attymon not one person got on or off a single train heading to either Dublin or Galway both days I was there. Trains stopping, no humans, only the cows in the fields nearby going "moooo". Woodlawn was a handful of passengers -mostly going to Dublin. Certainly way less passengers than a comparable station on the Sligo line such as Dromod.

I went with an open mind and found two barely used stations and Inter-City trains stopping at them when they could just as easily go through them and save time. I also went to Oranmore and saw this very large town with a commuting population into Galway, no cows going "mooo" and trains flying right through it as if it did not exsist! Only in Ireland...

It's not just Woodlawn and Attymon. One of the major reasons our inter-city train journies are slow in Ireland is trains stopping at every pissant station along the way on most routes. There are plenty of stations on the network which could be closed and nobody (I am talking rail users here) would miss them. I would also like to see more seperation between express and local trains, but alas the CIE mentality...

Reopening the Athlone-Mullingar line presents a tremendous amount of flexiblity into the national rail netork which could allow for an express and local services to Galway from Dublin using both east-west routes.

I believe that years ago CIE stated they were to close Woodlawn and some local headbanger chained himself to the level crossing gates to protest and held up all services on the Dublin-Galway line...and the muppet got his way.:rolleyes: This again brings us back to railways being opened for political gain. It nearly always ends in a bad situation for the rail network. Greystones and Monestervin being prime examples of the failure when a crass political decision is applied to rail.

Intercity rail is shagged in this country if the rail network cannot offer useful travel options and higher speeds than the bus/private car. When people want to go from Dublin to Galway, they do not want the train to stop at Attymon because "there once was a junction there in olden days." It's got to be a "wham-bam and do the business" rail network going forward or else inter-city rail is dead in Ireland.

monument

Occidental wrote:

Maybe we could run a travelator.

Down with that sort of thing!

dowlingm

Athlone Town Plan

3.5.2.2.1 Coach & Rail

• To promote the use of, and encourage improvements to public transport services and support initiatives designed to improve bus/coach-rail interchange facilities.
• To safeguard all existing rail infrastructure and to promote the re-opening of the Mullingar – Athlone line and Moate rail station for commuting and leisure purposes.
• To accommodate bus/coach facilities to minimise the adverse effects of commuter and other coach services upon traffic and pedestrian movement and the environment.
• To promote bus/coach priority schemes and other traffic management measures where appropriate.
• To promote the use of public transport.
• To promote an integrated public transportation network for Athlone.
• To promote the use of public transport and an integrated public transport network based on a spatially orientated development approach so as to assist in the reduction of the reliance on the private car.

dowlingm

map of Athlone West station
http://www.athlonechamber.ie/home/map/centremap/3.jpg

Athlone Shannon bridge (top left) and East station (top right)
http://www.athlonechamber.ie/home/map/centremap/7.jpg

Custume Barracks occupies a large chunk of land south of the West station but given that it's a 400+ year old structure there are historical reasons why redevelopment might run into opposition.

Attymon and Woodlawn are never going to grow while the N6 runs south to Loughrea and they are stuck with a R road let alone an N secondary road. If the NRA upgraded the R road between Ballinasloe and Athenry to 2+1 you would probably get a commuter belt explosion in Woodlawn and Attymon.

murphaph

If you use the DTO journey planner you can get very clear aerial images of all of Athlone folks.

Anyway, you could run IC DMUs from Galway to Spencer Dock, stopping at Drumcondra providing 1 change access to Dublin Airport, oh wait-they could do that using the Phoenix Park Tunnel, oh wait, Spencer Dock station will be built over with thousands of apartments by the time CIE do anything remotely linked to providing better public transport. What a useless shower.

Occidental

Hamndegger wrote:

I wonder would a way out of it would be for a bay platform to be built as the junction is just to the west of the station now. It may be a little dearer to build but you have just one building to run so admin wise, it could be simpler.

The maps don't really show the full picture. The land falls away and rises quite quickly in parts. This coupled with existing roads, bridges and houses would make it very difficult, if not impossible.

Mark,

The barracks were on the block in the last few rounds of Army cutbacks and most people reckon it's just a matter of time before either Athlone or Mullingar goes.

I'd see a redevelopment similar to Ballincollig, where the main buildings are kept. The site is a few minutes walk from the town centre and right on the Shannon, so it's prime luxury apartment territory. Value wise, I'm sure it's worth much more than Mullingar, though neither would be cheap.

dowlingm

thanks for the local colour Occidental

Ham'nd'egger

Occidental wrote:

The maps don't really show the full picture. The land falls away and rises quite quickly in parts. This coupled with existing roads, bridges and houses would make it very difficult, if not impossible.

I know the site isn't well spotted on the two maps shown, but the MGWR and GSWR meet about 100 yards to the westerly tip of the current station, so they would be on the same gradient, or as slight as would make feck all difference.

What I would suggest is for a single platform on the MGWR line that would be reached from the bay platform by either a walkway or a bridge. It may be a tad pricy, but more practical than two station, and connections would be handy.

Alternatively, if the MGWR is just intended as a local service, then maybe reverse into the station and into one of the platforms already could be a cheaper option? (Union pending, of course)

Occidental

They may only be a short distance apart, but they are also 15-20ft above ground level, with a sheer drop between. Just to make matters worse, the gap is filled with two roads and about 50-60 houses, a sub station and a bloody huge transmission mast. You may also have problems fitting in long enough platforms between the Ballymahon and Coosan roads. As I said, it probably could be done, but the costs wouldn't be pretty, as you'd have to demolish at least some of the houses and pay compensation to most of the rest. I'm sure stilted platforms and a link bridge wouldn't come cheap either.

Platform length permitting, it would be much easier and cheaper to reopen the western station and close the current one. Bus Eireann would have a fit, but it wouldn't make that much of a difference to most of the rest of the town.

SeanW

OK, I think of 2 options:

1: Run a travelator from the current East station across the Shannon to the reopened Western station.

2: Reopen the West station, and halt all Intercity trains there, then have a 2600 railcar acting as an East-West station shuttle, to take Eastern passengers to a stopped train at the West, and return to take Eastbound passengers disembarking from the IC train to the East station.

Athlone commuter trains would stop at both stations.

Are both of these crazy?

dowlingm

I don't think every service needs to worry about serving Athlone East as long as existing level of service is maintained - that Galway-AthWest-Moate-Dublin services are additional to rather than instead of Galway-AthEast-Tullamore-Dublin. The key is to make both stations earn their keep by making Athlone-Galway commuting by rail so frequent and convenient it's a no brainer and both parking areas are full.

I know the Dept of Ed is in Athlone - what's the commuting potential into Athlone like?

murphaph - nice one re: DTO aerials - very nice detailed shots although as Occidental noted if you don't have elevations aerials/maps are just a tease

Ham'nd'egger

Occidental wrote:

They may only be a short distance apart, but they are also 15-20ft above ground level, with a sheer drop between. Just to make matters worse, the gap is filled with two roads and about 50-60 houses, a sub station and a bloody huge transmission mast. You may also have problems fitting in long enough platforms between the Ballymahon and Coosan roads. As I said, it probably could be done, but the costs wouldn't be pretty, as you'd have to demolish at least some of the houses and pay compensation to most of the rest. I'm sure stilted platforms and a link bridge wouldn't come cheap either.

Platform length permitting, it would be much easier and cheaper to reopen the western station and close the current one. Bus Eireann would have a fit, but it wouldn't make that much of a difference to most of the rest of the town.

Occidental,

The MGWR was double line to Galway prior to the formation of the GSR, so there will be room for a platform, with a little realignment. While I am aware that is is some height off the street, all you need for it to work is:-

A) Room for a platform, which should be there by default.
A link bridge to same.

John R

Hamndegger wrote:

Occidental,

The MGWR was double line to Galway prior to the formation of the GSR, so there will be room for a platform, with a little realignment. While I am aware that is is some height off the street, all you need for it to work is:-

A) Room for a platform, which should be there by default.
A link bridge to same.

The line is very close to the current station however it is not currently a suitable location for a platform as it is steeply graded.

A short distance from the station both lines cross the N53, the Portarlington line crosses over it on a bridge, the Mullingar crosses it at road level.

A platform on a slope is not acceptable and there is not enough room to level the line for a platform and allow it descend to the road level. The only way of putting a platform in there would be to build up the embankment and construct a lengthy bridge on the alignment to cross over the road and descend the line east of the road crossing. An expensive and I'm sure unpopular plan for the people living next to the line.

Having both stations open doesn't sound ideal IMO, it would add an unnecessary extra stop to IC trains and having some trains using one station and some the other is not great either.

Even with the Mullingar line open there is going to be more traffic on the Portarlington route with an increase in Galway and Mayo expresses and more commuter semi-fasts into Heuston. Would doubling Portarlington-Athlone not be a more beneficial project?

dowlingm

John R

being able to divert additional Galway services away from Heuston while Kildare Route Project/Interconnector work going on would be a good idea I think. Dynamic loops on the Portarlington section might get most of the doubling benefits anyway.

D'Peoples Voice

Before I start, let me say that I'm not that familiar with the topography in and around athlone.
Why are people so determined that the current train alignments must be kept, when contrcuting roads we think nothing of realigning the road and selling off the old land!
From this map,
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=-850000&Y=7025000&width=700&height=400&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=mercator&db=&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&local=&localinfosel=&kw=&inmap=&table=&ovtype=&keepicon=&zm=0&scale=1000000&multimap.x=336&multimap.y=232 it would seem that a possible solution might be to move the current Tullamore Athlone line up to meet at Moate, likewise move the current Mullingar Athlone line down to meet at Moate. then perhaps look at running the one line into Athlone before diverging the far side of Athlone.
Please don't tell me CPO land in rural Ireland will be that difficult compared to an Urban area!

dowlingm

Clara to Moate... hm. 11km as the crow flies says Google Earth. Current timetable has 16-24 minutes between Clara and Athlone so with a stop in Moate you'd like to think it would be built to at least 90mph if not 100mph with the aim that no service would be more than say 25 minutes Clara-Athlone West.

These lines were built by private companies in competition so they were not designed to integrate.

That scheme would eliminate the need for the Athlone-Clara line and Athlone East station but would the Westmeath side go nuts that they lose the station and have to cross the river? Also - Google Earth doesn't give elevations but can anyone familiar with the N80 indicate whether there's bogland in the way?

(edited to note - this could go in conjunction with an N80 upgrade if planned but the N6 might be a problem).

Ham'nd'egger

dowlingm wrote:

Clara to Moate... hm. 11km as the crow flies says Google Earth. Current timetable has 16-24 minutes between Clara and Athlone so with a stop in Moate you'd like to think it would be built to at least 90mph if not 100mph with the aim that no service would be more than say 25 minutes Clara-Athlone West.

These lines were built by private companies in competition so they were not designed to integrate.

That scheme would eliminate the need for the Athlone-Clara line and Athlone East station but would the Westmeath side go nuts that they lose the station and have to cross the river? Also - Google Earth doesn't give elevations but can anyone familiar with the N80 indicate whether there's bogland in the way?

(edited to note - this could go in conjunction with an N80 upgrade if planned but the N6 might be a problem).

There was a line from Streamstown Junction to Clara at some stage yonks ago so it's line would be a route, but God knows how fast it would be, and I am not sure how the junctions are aligned in relation to each line. And God knows, that would be a lot more pricy than re-opening the MWR station again.

dowlingm

http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0110/D.0110.194803110007.html

Occidental

dowlingm wrote:

Clara to Moate... hm. 11km as the crow flies says Google Earth. Current timetable has 16-24 minutes between Clara and Athlone so with a stop in Moate you'd like to think it would be built to at least 90mph if not 100mph with the aim that no service would be more than say 25 minutes Clara-Athlone West.

These lines were built by private companies in competition so they were not designed to integrate.

That scheme would eliminate the need for the Athlone-Clara line and Athlone East station but would the Westmeath side go nuts that they lose the station and have to cross the river? Also - Google Earth doesn't give elevations but can anyone familiar with the N80 indicate whether there's bogland in the way?

(edited to note - this could go in conjunction with an N80 upgrade if planned but the N6 might be a problem).

Mark if you were going to do this you'd reroute the Mullingar line south after Moate, to join the Clara line east of Athlone. You would have to cross some bog, a number of hills, the N6 and a fair few minor roads.

It would be much cheaper to close the current station and route all traffic through the Western station. The only thing I'm not sure about are current and potential platform lengths at the western station, as this site is also elevated.

BTW, both stations are in Westmeath.

Slice

In some English towns and in Newry if I'm correct there's a feeder bus from the town centre to the train station in cases where the train station is situation outside of town.

MarkoP11

I was in Athlone recently and conscious of the possibility of a reopening had a look around. Firstly as has been pointed out there is a levels issue, the line in general is 15 feet off the ground on both sides of the Shannon. The Mullingar line was originally twin track and it would make little sense not to reopen it as two since this would offer a reduced journey time avoiding waits at stations, even if it is only built as single it would be a bad move to place a platform on the formation of the second track

There was a line from Clara to Streamstown which closed in the early 1960's lifted and assumed closed, it faces the wrong way around. It approaches Clara facing Tullamore

To reopen and put the second track back on the Mullingar Athlone will not require a works order or the delays and red tape it includes since its within the original act of construction, note Maynooth Clonsilla.

Simplest and most sensible approach is close the existing station and reopen the old station, the current station is refereed to as central but its a fair walk and most people arriving left by car or taxi very few walked. The old station is still in place as are the platforms all 3 of which look to be more than sufficient in length. Two of the platforms are currently signalled for operation. The centre platform is an island and there is space behind it for some sidings which are still in use. There are some old goods store buildings on the site no longer needed which would provide space for a car park. I might stand corrected on this but the signalling control room in Athlone is at the old station.

The point about a local bus service is valid all you need is a bus doing a loop around the town you could even get the local council to pay for it so its free. Compared to say Newbridge the walk to either station in Athlone is fairly reasonable

dowlingm

Nice summary.

take any photos for a future P11 campaign web page?

MarkoP11

Had no camera on me, was there by sheer chance, but we do have a few pictures of the line Derek took about 2003, he would post them but boards.ie and his popup blocker don't get along

Castletown is the only other station other than Moate, the photos capture the fact the alignment was built to take two tracks

The line was still in frequent enough use back then for engineering trains

paulm17781

That line is in far better condition than another disused line which is getting priority treatment....

It should be relaid and used ASAP!

DerekP11

Thanks Mark.

Its always helpful if those unfamiliar with the line have something to visualise.

My one and only trip over the line was as a child on a mystery train excursion to Athlone. The latest records I have for passenger traffic, are GAA specials to Dublin from Galway in 1990. RPSI/ITG may have gone over it after that.

1987 is the year of official downgrade, when the last Galway mail with passenger accomodation ran from Connolly at about 8pm. But, come to think of it, the last mail may not have had passenger coaches. However the 8pm was definetly featured in timetables around the mid 80s as a train to Galway from Connolly. Platform 5 if Im not mistaken.

There's no doubting its importance as a strategic link in the existing network. Lack of money was the reason for its closure, as IE continued to use it into the 90s. (just about)

P11 ran a press release about it last year, after Martin Cullen's remarks about planning. It went down well in the local media and was backed up by the fact that there is support in the area for its reinstatement

Original press release can be found here.....

http://www.platform11.org/media/press_release.php?year=2005&no=pr_044.html

John R

MarkoP11 wrote:

I was in Athlone recently and conscious of the possibility of a reopening had a look around. Firstly as has been pointed out there is a levels issue, the line in general is 15 feet off the ground on both sides of the Shannon. The Mullingar line was originally twin track and it would make little sense not to reopen it as two since this would offer a reduced journey time avoiding waits at stations, even if it is only built as single it would be a bad move to place a platform on the formation of the second track

There was a line from Clara to Streamstown which closed in the early 1960's lifted and assumed closed, it faces the wrong way around. It approaches Clara facing Tullamore

To reopen and put the second track back on the Mullingar Athlone will not require a works order or the delays and red tape it includes since its within the original act of construction, note Maynooth Clonsilla.

Re-laying the existing alignment is the only sensible proposition, the wild ideas expressed earlier are a completely OTT reaction to a small problem with the station access in Athlone.
Building a new alignment would be a completely pointless exercise, the only downside to the current lines is the station issue which is minor in comparison to planning new lines.

MarkoP11 wrote:

Simplest and most sensible approach is close the existing station and reopen the old station, the current station is refereed to as central but its a fair walk and most people arriving left by car or taxi very few walked. The old station is still in place as are the platforms all 3 of which look to be more than sufficient in length. Two of the platforms are currently signalled for operation. The centre platform is an island and there is space behind it for some sidings which are still in use. There are some old goods store buildings on the site no longer needed which would provide space for a car park. I might stand corrected on this but the signalling control room in Athlone is at the old station.

I tend to agree, having two stations in a town the size of Athlone is not warranted and the difficulties with putting a platform on the Mullingar line at the southern station are large. The only downside with switching to the Midland station is that the current station is co-located with the bus station. I don't know how many people actually use it to transfer from bus to rail but removing this transfer facility is a step in the wrong direction.

If there is ground space to move the bus station as well that would be a big bonus.

The Midland station is quite a substantial building, much larger than the Southern one so there is should be more than enough space for it to cater for passengers from both modes.

MarkoP11 wrote:

The point about a local bus service is valid all you need is a bus doing a loop around the town you could even get the local council to pay for it so its free. Compared to say Newbridge the walk to either station in Athlone is fairly reasonable

There are already 2 local bus routes across Athlone, the primary one running every 15 minutes although neither pass by the stations at the moment.

John R

I still think that Athlone-Portarlington is going to be a major problem if it is not doubled.

The Dublin-Galway and Mayo expresses are not going to be diverted via Mullingar. No matter what it is going to be a significantly slower route to Dublin and also consistently more congested for the forseeable future. Post interconnector there will be plenty of capacity into Heuston for expresses with the local services seperated away and the journey times should drop considerably also.

Currently there is not space for additional terminating trains to cross the northern line into Connolly and post interconnector there will not be the gaps to allow fast running from Connolly-Maynooth and certainly not Clonsilla with Pace/Navan traffic.

Passing loops cost time as one train has to stop and wait, once the frequency on Athlone-Portarlington reaches hourly or less in both directions they will be a big timekeeping headache. One late-running train will cascade through the section for hours causing the whole service to be affected.

Occidental

John R wrote:

Re-laying the existing alignment is the only sensible proposition, the wild ideas expressed earlier are a completely OTT reaction to a small problem with the station access in Athlone.
Building a new alignment would be a completely pointless exercise, the only downside to the current lines is the station issue which is minor in comparison to planning new lines.



I tend to agree, having two stations in a town the size of Athlone is not warranted and the difficulties with putting a platform on the Mullingar line at the southern station are large. The only downside with switching to the Midland station is that the current station is co-located with the bus station. I don't know how many people actually use it to transfer from bus to rail but removing this transfer facility is a step in the wrong direction.

If there is ground space to move the bus station as well that would be a big bonus.

The Midland station is quite a substantial building, much larger than the Southern one so there is should be more than enough space for it to cater for passengers from both modes.



There are already 2 local bus routes across Athlone, the primary one running every 15 minutes although neither pass by the stations at the moment.

John,

Agreed that moving the line would be madness.

There is some crossover between bus and train, but It's not huge. It would be unfortunate to loose the co-location, but you're never going to get Bus Eireann to move from a state of the art facility they built only a few years ago.

Another problem which a move may solve is parking. Most of the CIE land at the current station is taken up be a Bus Eireann maintenance depot, which means parking is always at a premium(I've driven to Galway because I couldn't park to get the train). Parking at the old station site is currently easy.

It should be possible to route at least some Galway services via Mullingar. If congestion is really chronic, another option would be to extend the fledgling Athlone-Galway Commuter service as far as Mullingar, or perhaps even Maynooth, which would give an optional path to Galway.

In truth this is all a bit cart before horse. The main thing a reopening of the line gives IE, are options.