Athy Transport? Anyone know anything?

joejoem

Hi,

I am writing a piece on Athy property at the moment and I am trying to research the transport available to the town. I have good information on the driving commute but I have found very little on the train or bus. The arrow was supposed to be in the town by 2003 but as far as I can see on the irish rail website there is only one arrow train in the evening.

Does anyone know of any further expansion planned? Does the current rail service meed the demand? Do you know where I could get my hands on these articles?

I have to have this prepared by monday evening so unfortunatly the internet is my only resource. Thank you for your help.

AndrewMc

joejoem wrote:

I am writing a piece on Athy property at the moment and I am trying to research the transport available to the town. I have good information on the driving commute but I have found very little on the train or bus. The arrow was supposed to be in the town by 2003 but as far as I can see on the irish rail website there is only one arrow train in the evening.

Does anyone know of any further expansion planned? Does the current rail service meed the demand? Do you know where I could get my hands on these articles?

Structurally, Athy has a severe traffic problem with just one single-lane bridge over the Barrow, and narrow streets. At several junctions it can happen that one car waiting to turn right blocks up the whole queue of traffic behind it. An inner relief road (a second street parallel to the current main one, including a new bridge etc) was nixed after something like 30 years of planning and arguments. I've seen no alternative plans and nothing like a town bypass coming soon.

Buses: The two main companies are Bus Eireann (timetable 7) and JJ Kavanagh (Dublin-Clonmel). I also heard about a local bus scheme called the "South Kildare Community Transport", but can't immediately find any information I'd be sure is current. Kildare County Council might know.

Trains: Athy's on the Waterford line. The arrow's a bit of touchy subject since most would say there's no progress. However it was in December '04 that the 19:45 Heuston-Carlow service was introduced (which is run with Arrow railcars), and in March this year the early mornings were altered as shown in the timetables. The new timetable means that apart from the 06:30 Carlow-Heuston, there's now also a 06:05 Waterford-Heuston which passes through Athy at 07:36. This is a significant improvment where the only option after 06:41 was 08:58.

This extra train has allowed a fair few people to change from the 06:41 to the 07:36, and has taken a lot of pressure off. In the months leading up to its introduction it was getting tough to find a seat, especially on Mondays when it wasn't just Carlow-Heuston, but Waterford-Heuston. Now it's usually fine. Trains home in the evening, though, are pretty packed. The options are 16:25, 18:25 or 19:45. The 16:25 and 18:25 are frequently standing-room only by the time they're due to leave. Ideally I'd like to see an Arrow timetabled between the two going as far as, say, Carlow, or else an extra carriage (don't they have spares now they've got the pointy green trains going to Cork) on the others. The 19:45 is usually okay, but it's a bit late for a normal work day.

A relatively minor oddity in Athy Station is the shortness of the platforms, being long enough for only about 3 carriages. A planning notice is up talking about the extension of those platforms, so hopefully that'll be dealt with in the coming year. The car park is just about big enough, but at the town's growth rate it's noticeably more busy each month. New railcars on order (the ones with under-floor engines) are expected to be introduced on the Waterford line first, so I've been lead to believe. This is due to the turnaround necessary in Kilkenny. I've not heard anything about any upcoming timetable changes, though, apart from the notion of "a train every two hours" (when the new railcars arrive?).

joejoem

AndrewMc wrote:

Structurally, Athy has a severe traffic problem with just one single-lane bridge over the Barrow, and narrow streets. At several junctions it can happen that one car waiting to turn right blocks up the whole queue of traffic behind it. An inner relief road (a second street parallel to the current main one, including a new bridge etc) was nixed after something like 30 years of planning and arguments. I've seen no alternative plans and nothing like a town bypass coming soon.

Buses: The two main companies are Bus Eireann (timetable 7) and JJ Kavanagh (Dublin-Clonmel). I also heard about a local bus scheme called the "South Kildare Community Transport", but can't immediately find any information I'd be sure is current. Kildare County Council might know.

Trains: Athy's on the Waterford line. The arrow's a bit of touchy subject since most would say there's no progress. However it was in December '04 that the 19:45 Heuston-Carlow service was introduced (which is run with Arrow railcars), and in March this year the early mornings were altered as shown in the timetables. The new timetable means that apart from the 06:30 Carlow-Heuston, there's now also a 06:05 Waterford-Heuston which passes through Athy at 07:36. This is a significant improvment where the only option after 06:41 was 08:58.

This extra train has allowed a fair few people to change from the 06:41 to the 07:36, and has taken a lot of pressure off. In the months leading up to its introduction it was getting tough to find a seat, especially on Mondays when it wasn't just Carlow-Heuston, but Waterford-Heuston. Now it's usually fine. Trains home in the evening, though, are pretty packed. The options are 16:25, 18:25 or 19:45. The 16:25 and 18:25 are frequently standing-room only by the time they're due to leave. Ideally I'd like to see an Arrow timetabled between the two going as far as, say, Carlow, or else an extra carriage (don't they have spares now they've got the pointy green trains going to Cork) on the others. The 19:45 is usually okay, but it's a bit late for a normal work day.

A relatively minor oddity in Athy Station is the shortness of the platforms, being long enough for only about 3 carriages. A planning notice is up talking about the extension of those platforms, so hopefully that'll be dealt with in the coming year. The car park is just about big enough, but at the town's growth rate it's noticeably more busy each month. New railcars on order (the ones with under-floor engines) are expected to be introduced on the Waterford line first, so I've been lead to believe. This is due to the turnaround necessary in Kilkenny. I've not heard anything about any upcoming timetable changes, though, apart from the notion of "a train every two hours" (when the new railcars arrive?).

You are brilliant, thank you so much for your help!


While I have you, whats it like to live in Athy? There may be an job opening up for me down there and I am thinking of taking it. My concern is that the town will be too quiet and I will go stir crazy. I am a 25 year old single man, and I enjoy going a bit crazy at the weekend. I noticed a good few pubs but no sign of a nightclub. As far as Dublin or the other towns in Kildare, are there any night buses coming back from clubs?

Again thanks for the help above, that hit the nail on the head.

road_high

joejoem wrote:

You are brilliant, thank you so much for your help!


While I have you, whats it like to live in Athy? There may be an job opening up for me down there and I am thinking of taking it. My concern is that the town will be too quiet and I will go stir crazy. I am a 25 year old single man, and I enjoy going a bit crazy at the weekend. I noticed a good few pubs but no sign of a nightclub. As far as Dublin or the other towns in Kildare, are there any night buses coming back from clubs?

Again thanks for the help above, that hit the nail on the head.

It's not great really, Carlow is by far the best bet locally as regards nightlife, further afield is Portlaoise (similar crowd to Athy, a bit better) and Kilkenny which is always alive at the weekends.I would imagine there must be a nite bus on Saturdays to/from Carlow at least.
It is a quite town in some regards, but in others less so. I'm gona sound like a snob here but here we go,It is mostly a town of middle-class commuter estates and local rougher ones.There is little middle ground.There used to be a night club called the Pedigree Corner out on the Castlecomer road but I don't think it's running anymore which I belive is probably a good thing.

But over all i'd have to say it is a town on the grow, and even more so when the N9 motorway reaches comes on stream.