Railway to cycle path?

wellbutty

Sorry for asking such a stupid question but if a voluntary body was interested in converting an abandoned railway line into a cyclepath or walkway, how does this come about? Is the land sold by CIE, leased by CIE or does it just need to be used to CIE's satisfaction? I'm just curious as to why so few have so far been converted.

Did CIE sell some of the land over the years?
1996 versus 2009

amckinstry

I'd like to hear from someone who's been involved in such conversions (here in Ireland).

My understanding is that a lot of the railway track land was given away by CIE to nearby farmers, simply to dispose of insurance liabilities. That is, there would be almost no chance of anyone buying it anyway, and it was a liability for CIE to hold it, so they gave it away.

Niles

I don't know much about the subject but for starts a line must be at least ten years out of use in order to be "abandoned". No there don't seem to be too many, I believe part of the old Westport-Achill line has been converted to one, while part of the Woodenbridge-Shilelagh branch has been converted to a walkway (both closed to rail traffic over 50 years ago). There was/is talk about part of the Waterford-Dungarvan route being converted to a cycle path in connection with the Waterford & Suir Valley railway project.

Pete_Cavan

amckinstry wrote: »

I'd like to hear from someone who's been involved in such conversions (here in Ireland).

Westtip is involved in a campaign to get the northern section of the Western Rail Corridor converted to a cycle path. He/she regularly provides updates on their campaign on the Western Rail Corridor thread. You should PM him/her.

Judgement Day

amckinstry wrote: »

I'd like to hear from someone who's been involved in such conversions (here in Ireland).

My understanding is that a lot of the railway track land was given away by CIE to nearby farmers, simply to dispose of insurance liabilities. That is, there would be almost no chance of anyone buying it anyway, and it was a liability for CIE to hold it, so they gave it away.

http://www.southerntrail.net/

kippy

A fair chunk of what was left of the old Achill - wesport line has been converted to cycle path and opened in the past 12-18 months.
Not sure about the ins and outs of it.
http://www.discoverireland.ie/Things-To-Do/Activities-and-Adventure/Cycling-and-Biking/Top-Cycling-Trails/The-Great-Western-Greenway
http://www.greenway.ie/

hi5

I too am interested in this,if only to expose some of the fine stone bridges and viaducts which are sitting unused in the middle of fields all over the country.

Here is some of the work done on the Achill line
http://irnirishrailwaynews.yuku.com/topic/1986/Achill-Railway-museum

clear thinking

Not as good value as selling it for Ag value, but dont let that get in the way of a freebie to farmers.