Athlone-Mullingar Rail link

demanufactured

Does anyone Know when the last passanger services ran on this line??
I used to live near it in athlone and I have memories of friehgt trains running it during the 90s
Its in a sorry state in parts now with rotton/burnt sleepers from fires.
Moate station is some state aswell.

Judgement Day

demanufactured wrote: »

Does anyone Know when the last passanger services ran on this line??
I used to live near it in athlone and I have memories of friehgt trains running it during the 90s
Its in a sorry state in parts now with rotton/burnt sleepers from fires.
Moate station is some state aswell.

Thread here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054952410

The last scheduled service of any sort was in 1987 but after that date the odd engineering train used the route. Now it is so decrepit that even an inspection car might find it difficult to traverse. It should never have been closed but that's far sighted CIE for you. Maybe when Chinatown comes to Athlone it will be rebuilt. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055947634 :rolleyes:

westtip

Indeed this is the rail link that would benefit the west, giving the option of direct services from the west into Connolly. WOT they need in Mullingar and Athlone is an octogenerian member of the cloth on their case and a multitude of councillors prepared to sit on a committee for 30 years saying this must happen.

n97 mini

Aside from having the option of running Galway trains into Connolly (which really shouldn't be done as Connolly is so busy with commuter traffic), there would be no other use for this line.

Nice and all as it would be from a nostalgia perspective, and it would be nice to have the the option of being able to travel from Athlone to Mullingar on the train, think about who would use it. No-one, aside from a few OAPs on free travel cards.

I've said it before: all the one-off houses in rural Ireland which necessitate private cars, along with all the new motorways really have spelled the end for rail as a transport in that sort of environment.

OurLadyofKnock

CIE/Irish Rail (as per usual) have made reopening this line really difficult now (though not impossible) as they moved the main station in Athlone to the east side of the river meaning that if trains were restored to the section they would not be able to serve Athlone.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.427707,-7.939231&spn=0.00195,0.005681&t=h&z=18

Other examples of CIE/Irish Rail Engineer Killing off rail lines using this method:

Ballybrophy
Athenry
Newcome Junction
Rosslare Harbour

What they do is they "upgrade" in such a way that making new services are incredibly expensive to restore.

corktina

there were always two stations in Athlone, its just now they use the more central GSWR one rather than the MGWR formerly used which I beleive is the other side of the river. Im told a platform on the now closed line could be built adjacent to the current station involving a short walk á lá Heuston.

shamwari

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

CIE/Irish Rail (as per usual) have made reopening this line really difficult now (though not impossible) as they moved the main station in Athlone to the east side of the river meaning that if trains were restored to the section they would not be able to serve Athlone.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.427707,-7.939231&spn=0.00195,0.005681&t=h&z=18

Other examples of CIE/Irish Rail Engineer Killing off rail lines using this method:

Ballybrophy
Athenry
Newcome Junction
Rosslare Harbour

What they do is they "upgrade" in such a way that making new services are incredibly expensive to restore.

Did someone not once describe this as akin to scorched earth?

LXFlyer

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

CIE/Irish Rail (as per usual) have made reopening this line really difficult now (though not impossible) as they moved the main station in Athlone to the east side of the river meaning that if trains were restored to the section they would not be able to serve Athlone.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=53.427707,-7.939231&spn=0.00195,0.005681&t=h&z=18

Other examples of CIE/Irish Rail Engineer Killing off rail lines using this method:

Ballybrophy
Athenry
Newcome Junction
Rosslare Harbour

What they do is they "upgrade" in such a way that making new services are incredibly expensive to restore.

To be fair that was about the only benefit that station offered - i.e. the ability to go via either route to Dublin.

The current station is a five minute walk from the town centre, is closer to the main population and is integrated with the bus station as well.

To my mind a no-brainer of a decision.

Judgement Day

lxflyer wrote: »

To be fair that was about the only benefit that station offered - i.e. the ability to go via either route to Dublin.

The current station is a five minute walk from the town centre, is closer to the main population and is integrated with the bus station as well.

To my mind a no-brainer of a decision.

To be fair we are not talking a commuter station here and most people arriving at rural stations tend to be dropped off or collected by car. Closing the station was a waste of money and designed to help kill of the Mullingar/Athlone section. The real cynics, myself included, see it as part of CIE's long term aim to retreat east of the Shannon when the bridge needs repairing.

whyulittle

Map of the stations.....

OurLadyofKnock

lxflyer wrote: »

To be fair that was about the only benefit that station offered - i.e. the ability to go via either route to Dublin.

The current station is a five minute walk from the town centre, is closer to the main population and is integrated with the bus station as well.

To my mind a no-brainer of a decision.

Nope - it was stage one to close all line West of the Shannon. Athlone East was to be the terminus with connecting bus services to the West. This was all publicially announced in the mid 1980's. This is why Fine Gael gave Irish Rail and CIE the money for upgrading Athlone East station and making it more bus friendly.

I can recall reading about this in the IRRS journal at the time and they getting all excited and happy about it. They even said that the new arrangement at Athlone was exciting. If someone can dig the issue up. At the time I can recall thinking to myself. "These guys are pro rail?" This was before I discovered that the IRRS is the propaganda wing of CIE management. Which they still are.

kildarecommuter

Last pasenger service was the Galway mail train, last freight was the Asahi liner which was rerouted via portarlington and Factory has since closed.
Much of the permanent way is now rotten I doubt there will be any chance of reopening anytime soon.

Transportuser09

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

the IRRS is the propaganda wing of CIE management. Which they still are.

I wouldnt say that. Their coverage of the Rosslare-Waterford closure was balanced. Looking at their coverage of the issue on their website, it gives CIÉ's reasons for and the protesters argument against the closure. It doesnt say CIÉ is right.

But yes it would have made more sense to have retained the old station and allow the possibility of the Moate line reopening. I am actually surprised this route hasnt got the same level of attention as the WRC in terms of coverage in the media, lobbying, etc.

coylemj

The main view the public have of this line in Athlone town is at the level crossing near Sarsfield Sq. on the Ballymahon Road, known locally as the 'white gates', the line is seriously overgrown with weeds and covered in rubbish, if the rest of it is as bad it will cost millions to bring it back to a usable state.

The issue of access would also have to be tackled as the current passenger railway station has no platform on the Moate line and is simply too far from it plus there's a load of houses (Auburn Drive and Roslevin) between the Clara line and the Moate line. They would need to either demolish the houses in Auburn Drive and relocate the railway station there, it would then sit between the two lines, or buy out Dunnes Stores in Montree and move the railway station there.

With the population shift east that has happened since the 60s it would not be feasible to reopen the old railway station on the Connaught side.

Judgement Day

coylemj - The point I made in my earlier post about the drop-off and collection of passengers surely applies? It is not a commuter station and therefore its location in the town will have little effect on usage.

highlydebased

OurLadyofKnock wrote: »

CIE/Irish Rail (as per usual) have made reopening this line really difficult now (though not impossible) as they moved the main station in Athlone to the east side of the river meaning that if trains were restored to the section they would not be able to serve Athlone.

They could call at Athlone, would just have to reverse. Would be almost identical to a train calling at Killarney.

The line would be a waste now though.

coylemj

Judgement Day wrote: »

coylemj - The point I made in my earlier post about the drop-off and collection of passengers surely applies? It is not a commuter station and therefore its location in the town will have little effect on usage.

I disagree, part of the justification for reopening the line would be to give people in Moate and Mullingar the ability to get to Galway (and Westport/Ballina) by rail so there would need to be easy transfer between the two lines.

You couldn't justify reopening the line just for commuters, Moate is only 10 minutes down the motorway and very few people commute between Mullingar and Athlone, it would be cheaper to send them there in individual taxis than reopen the line. You may recall that someone made this comparison in relation to the Limerick to Waterford line such was the low level of usage relative to the cost of keeping the line open.

corktina

i rather think the idea would be to send some of the galway to dublin traisn that way rather than having a shuttle service. However it would be the cheapest way to do it , to ahve a light rail shuttle with no connection to the main lines...Parry People Mover would be ideal for this

coylemj

corktina wrote: »

i rather think the idea would be to send some of the galway to dublin traisn that way rather than having a shuttle service.

They would be crazy to do this, Clara, Tullamore and Portarlington supply a reasonable number of passengers to the Galway and Westport trains that pass through, far more than would board in Moate or Mullingar plus Portarlington is a link to the Cork and Kerry lines, I don't think the link to the Sligo line in Mullingar would be used by many people coming from Galway or Westport.

The number of people from the west who would use a rail link to Moate and Mullingar would be tiny. Mullingar people already have a link to Dublin via the Sligo line so the only real beneficiaries of reopening the Athlone to Mullingar line would be the people in Moate and with the M6 they are now barely over an hour from Dublin so it would be hard to justify reopening the line just to give them a rail link to Dublin.

Judgement Day

coylemj wrote: »

I disagree, part of the justification for reopening the line would be to give people in Moate and Mullingar the ability to get to Galway (and Westport/Ballina) by rail so there would need to be easy transfer between the two lines.

You couldn't justify reopening the line just for commuters, Moate is only 10 minutes down the motorway and very few people commute between Mullingar and Athlone, it would be cheaper to send them there in individual taxis than reopen the line. You may recall that someone made this comparison in relation to the Limerick to Waterford line such was the low level of usage relative to the cost of keeping the line open.

I don't know why you are raising the issue of commuters when the primary purpose of reopening the Mullingar/Athlone section would be for inter-city traffic. It would relieve the pressure on the single track Athlone/Portarlington section and free up space on the Dublin/Cork line. Reopening of the line should have been done before consideration of the WRC and the Dunboyne branch. The number of people 'commuting' from Moate which has a population of 1,500-1,800 people would not be an important factor.

coylemj

OK, forget about commuters. I believe with the Dart and the increased traffic on the Belfast line that they cannot send any more trains into Connolly station so that line will never be reopened.

dowlingm

Maynooth-Mullingar double track first, then we can talk about relaying via Moate. No point in delaying Longford/Sligo trains even more than they are already. Routing the Ballina-North Wall freight via Moate would keep slow freight off the Cork-Dublin but it's not like there's even one of those a day.

As for Athlone itself, theoretically it's doable I suppose but you'd likely have to buy out some houses there and maybe even seek to close the exit of Auburn Drive and essentially infill it to create a unified station area.

In short - no money, no chance, and a bunch of maybe reusable track panels long since rotted out and weed choked.

Transportuser09

The proximity of a motorway to a town doesn't automatically mean there is no point having a rail connection, if that was the case we'll soon have no rail lines left at all. As Judgement Day points out it would cater for Intercity trains, not just commuter traffic.

shamwari

coylemj wrote: »

OK, forget about commuters. I believe with the Dart and the increased traffic on the Belfast line that they cannot send any more trains into Connolly station so that line will never be reopened.

Connolly might be stuffed, but Spencer Dock / Docklands isn't

demanufactured

Some pics of Moate station as it is now.

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/M/Moate/A&Bindex.html



Athlone midland

http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/Railway%20Stations%20A/Athlone%20Midland/Irish%20Railway%20Stations.html

dowlingm

Hopefully eiretrains will see this thread and give us an idea when the pictures were taken - it may have been some time ago.

Does anyone local to Athlone think a P&R halt could be opened at Midland for Athlone-Galway commuter, or would most people who wanted to commute from that side of the river just use Ballinasloe?

EDIT: Anyone see an 22K barrelling through here at 80mph?

LXFlyer

shamwari wrote: »

Connolly might be stuffed, but Spencer Dock / Docklands isn't

The Maynooth line and its level crossings are however.

flazio

dowlingm wrote: »

Hopefully eiretrains will see this thread and give us an idea when the pictures were taken - it may have been some time ago.

Does anyone local to Athlone think a P&R halt could be opened at Midland for Athlone-Galway commuter, or would most people who wanted to commute from that side of the river just use Ballinasloe?

EDIT: Anyone see an 22K barrelling through here at 80mph?

To be fair you'd just be leaving/entering Moate so you'd hardly be up to speed by then.

shamwari

lxflyer wrote: »

The Maynooth line and its level crossings are however.

Are the LC's not scheduled for abolition as part of DASH2 (i.e new road bridges to replace the LC's)? If so I would imagine that there would be no capacity constraints thereafter.

In any event, I would imagine we would be talking about one train in each direction every two hours, no?

LGiamani

There are few reasons to open the Athlone-Mullingar line in the current envoirment. I have a few suggestions one is to merge the Sligo-Westport train in Mullingar and increase the number od Dublin-Galway service to hourly all day. One other suggestion would be to grow the level of freight traffic on the line and allow it to pass through Mullingar. With the proposed reduction of Dublin-Maynooth services in offpeak times there would be slots available for extra trains in the daytime. The main reason for not re-opening the line is Irish Rail. The fares are far too expensive and they are doing the minimium to compete with the motorways. I feel that they could do alot more to grow customer number to justify a Dublin-Galway hourly services with the increase in tourism that is expected to come here over the next few years! On the other hand when you can rent a car from 30 eur per day who will bother with the train. Finally I have a suggestion that could be viable for the line would be to turn it into a cyclepath as it passes through the most scenic parts of Westmeath and even you put a minor charge of 3 eur for using it you could have a profitable business.

coylemj

dowlingm wrote: »

Does anyone local to Athlone think a P&R halt could be opened at Midland for Athlone-Galway commuter, or would most people who wanted to commute from that side of the river just use Ballinasloe?

You have to remember that the old MGWR station is closed with no staff so you'd have to recruit new staff and refit most of the station to open it up and I can't see Irish Rail coughing up the cash to do this.

An Athlone-Galway commuter would only be viable if it started by picking up passengers on the Leinster side at the 'new' station, I can't see them stopping the train after barely a mile to pick up a couple of passengers at the MGWR station.

Eiretrains

dowlingm wrote: »

Hopefully eiretrains will see this thread and give us an idea when the pictures were taken - it may have been some time ago.

They were taken in 2003 when the station looked 'ok', however I have been told nowadays that there are trees and shrubs growing between the rails on the line! The route was built to double track main line standards, fairly straight and level with few level crossings.
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=moate+station

LGiamani

The line is an excellent piece of infrastructure as I've walked it in the last few years. There are a number of bridges that do not cater for double tracking but these can be changed.

Eiretrains

Eiretrains wrote: »

They were taken in 2003 when the station looked 'ok', however I have been told nowadays that there are trees and shrubs growing between the rails on the line! The route was built to double track main line standards, fairly straight and level with few level crossings.
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=moate+station

Interesting, it appears that the only part of the line that is still being maintained is the level crossing in Athlone, workers were painting it a few days ago.

Hungerford

LGiamani wrote: »

The line is an excellent piece of infrastructure as I've walked it in the last few years. There are a number of bridges that do not cater for double tracking but these can be changed.

The line was built as a double track one [it was singled later] so there should be enough space under the bridges.

flazio

Hungerford wrote: »

The line was built as a double track one [it was singled later] so there should be enough space under the bridges.

True, but there's also a few places where the line goes over a road and the bridge isn't wide enough.
Here is a prime example (although I do see room for expansion.)

corktina

is there any need for it to be double track for two or three trains a day? I(s there any need for a station in Moate for that matter. Its oinly a short link and Mullingar and Athlone are reasonably close to Moate.

flazio

flazio wrote: »

True, but there's also a few places where the line goes over a road and the bridge isn't wide enough.
Here is a prime example (although I do see room for expansion.)

The cost of replacing the deck is tiny in comparison with having to widen an embankment and piers, chances are when the track was singled the original steel bridge deck was recycled as well.

Art(h)ur

The major factor for me would be if the travel time from Galway to Dublin would be shorter via Mullingar than it is now via Portarlington. If yes, then it would make sense to rebuild it (on top of the benefits of freeing up the capacity on the existing line as described by OP). From looking at the map - it should be shorter as now in Clara the track turns south even though its destination (Dublin) is to the west. The Galway trains could be alternating between Mullingar and Portarlington or all of them going via Mullingar with separate Athlone-Portarlington-Dublin services.

But a more urgent issue for me is about the Athlone Midland - why are there derelict buildings lying right by one of the main routes in the country for all tourists to see (especially as the trains slow down right there when approaching the bridge)???? After merely 25 years since its closure, no one took them over as shops, warehouses, restaurants, anything? Or during the boom years, the land could have been sold to a successful property developer so that he could tear them down and build whatever he wishes in a perfect location close to a thriving city, right by the river etc. Sounds unbelievable but yet...

dowlingm

But a more urgent issue for me is about the Athlone Midland - why are there derelict buildings lying right by one of the main routes in the country for all tourists to see (especially as the trains slow down right there when approaching the bridge)????

That's CIE "Property Management" for you I suppose...

As for the discussion about double tracking - why bother? Single track gives you the connection to Mullingar but where are the slots into Maynooth/the northside coming from to run large numbers of trains to justify double? Better to have a high speed single track line which can also accommodate Galway/Mayo GAA express specials and the like rather than creating expectations in Moate and other small towns and village that trains = stations.

Art(h)ur

Art(h)ur wrote: »

But a more urgent issue for me is about the Athlone Midland - why are there derelict buildings lying right by one of the main routes in the country for all tourists to see (especially as the trains slow down right there when approaching the bridge)???? After merely 25 years since its closure, no one took them over as shops, warehouses, restaurants, anything? Or during the boom years, the land could have been sold to a successful property developer so that he could tear them down and build whatever he wishes in a perfect location close to a thriving city, right by the river etc. Sounds unbelievable but yet...

That station is actually some distance form the centre of town and on the wrong side of the river, any development there would be out on its own (a bit like many of the ghost estates).

Any development there would need to be part of a wider area plan to be successful.

flas

coylemj wrote: »

You have to remember that the old MGWR station is closed with no staff so you'd have to recruit new staff and refit most of the station to open it up and I can't see Irish Rail coughing up the cash to do this.

An Athlone-Galway commuter would only be viable if it started by picking up passengers on the Leinster side at the 'new' station, I can't see them stopping the train after barely a mile to pick up a couple of passengers at the MGWR station.

this happens at leixlip?!

Art(h)ur

Deleted User wrote: »

That station is actually some distance form the centre of town and on the wrong side of the river, any development there would be out on its own (a bit like many of the ghost estates).

Any development there would need to be part of a wider area plan to be successful.

That's exactly why I was thinking more of industrial/shopping use - these have no problem with being located on the outskirts. And they could happen even in the downturn.

coylemj

flas wrote: »

this happens at leixlip?!

FFS, you can't compare Athlone to Leixlip which is part of greater Dublin! There's probably more people working in Intel than live on the west side of Athlone.

L1011

coylemj wrote: »

FFS, you can't compare Athlone to Leixlip which is part of greater Dublin! There's probably more people working in Intel than live on the west side of Athlone.

They even intended to build a *third* station for Intel due to its volume of staff; but as Intel started to build towards the existing station the plan got dropped.

kildarecommuter

Some interesting comments here but not a chance of Irish Rail doing anything with line and I doubt much political will either.

LXFlyer

Art(h)ur wrote: »

The major factor for me would be if the travel time from Galway to Dublin would be shorter via Mullingar than it is now via Portarlington. If yes, then it would make sense to rebuild it (on top of the benefits of freeing up the capacity on the existing line as described by OP). From looking at the map - it should be shorter as now in Clara the track turns south even though its destination (Dublin) is to the west. The Galway trains could be alternating between Mullingar and Portarlington or all of them going via Mullingar with separate Athlone-Portarlington-Dublin services.

But a more urgent issue for me is about the Athlone Midland - why are there derelict buildings lying right by one of the main routes in the country for all tourists to see (especially as the trains slow down right there when approaching the bridge)???? After merely 25 years since its closure, no one took them over as shops, warehouses, restaurants, anything? Or during the boom years, the land could have been sold to a successful property developer so that he could tear them down and build whatever he wishes in a perfect location close to a thriving city, right by the river etc. Sounds unbelievable but yet...

Appearances can be deceptive as you have also to remember the difference in line speeds, particularly between Portarlington and Heuston.

Athlone-Heuston is typically 1 hour 30-35 minutes.

Mullingar-Connolly is typically 1 hour 10 minutes, while Athlone-Mullingar would take roughly 40 minutes giving a journey time of 1 hour 50 minutes.

So no it would not be faster.

mgmt

lxflyer wrote: »

Appearances can be deceptive as you have also to remember the difference in line speeds, particularly between Portarlington and Heuston.

Athlone-Heuston is typically 1 hour 30-35 minutes.

Mullingar-Connolly is typically 1 hour 10 minutes, while Athlone-Mullingar would take roughly 40 minutes giving a journey time of 1 hour 50 minutes.

So no it would not be faster.

Connolly is better than Hueston. Is Docklands better than Hueston?

LXFlyer

You're still looking at a faster journey time to O'Connell Street via Portarlington by about 10-15 minutes.

L1011

Would Athlone to Mullingar really take 40mins? If the line was rebuilt I'd presume it'd be capable of higher speeds than that.

veryangryman

lxflyer wrote: »

You're still looking at a faster journey time to O'Connell Street via Portarlington by about 10-15 minutes.

And more people would take the train from Galway/Athlone.

Most people who want to go to Dublin have zero interest in the area around Heuston. Connolly is downtown :cool: