Athlone - Mullingar line

Banjoxed

corktina wrote: »

Not much else to say really....WoT take note

Yes if the whole alignment of any route was built to double track. Otherwise where would the additional land not in CIE ownership be coming from?

corktina

yes that was a double track line originally and I believe so was the MGWR line. Most single line railways were built with a generous amount of land to allow for double tracking if required. I believe it would be possible to include a cycle and foot path in most instances.

I also believe it is foolhardy to think you would be protecting a Railway by denying a Greenway on the route. If there is room for both, and a simple survey would shown if this is so, then allowing a Greenway now would guarantee the alignment being available for ever. It would be a simple matter to insist in the planning that room for the Railway is left, either now or by an undertaking to move over the path at some future time.

gobnaitolunacy

corktina wrote: »

yes that was a double track line originally and I believe so was the MGWR line. Most single line railways were built with a generous amount of land to allow for double tracking if required. I believe it would be possible to include a cycle and foot path in most instances.

I also believe it is foolhardy to think you would be protecting a Railway by denying a Greenway on the route. If there is room for both, and a simple survey would shown if this is so, then allowing a Greenway now would guarantee the alignment being available for ever. It would be a simple matter to insist in the planning that room for the Railway is left, either now or by an undertaking to move over the path at some future time.

May be a way of safeguarding the route, if IE decided to lift the rails, and prevent a North Kerry greenway style farce.

flazio

I find it hard to believe the track between Athlone and Portarlington ever had ambitions to be double track the whole way. The rock gap at Tullamore would suggest it was always a single track operation.

LXFlyer

The GS & WR line from Portarlington to Athlone was always single track.

The loop at Clonnydonnin was installed in 1974.

The MGWR route was the primary route until 1973. It had multiple double track sections when originally built.

Clonsilla to Mullingar, Mullingar to Athlone, Athlone to Ballinasloe, Attymon to Athenry and Oranmore to Galway were all double track until the late 1920s.

Only Clonsilla to Maynooth has been redoubled (in 2001).

dowlingm

corktina wrote: »

Not much else to say really....WoT take note

What's the status of the particular line in the photo? I think WoT contend that the possible uses of the line could be restricted in the event of a trail as pictured.

dennis124wwr

corktina wrote: »

Not much else to say really....WoT take note

Where is the picture from?
I mean what railway line

corktina

according to the link, I think it's the Midland Rly Bath to Bristol line, now partly the Avon Valley line.

Mearings

corktina wrote: »

according to the link, I think it's the Midland Rly Bath to Bristol line, now partly the Avon Valley line.

If we had similar I think we would have a problem with eegits & easy access to the railway.

corktina

we have easy access to railways now, there are no fences on platforms and there are on this route (although in my view these shouldn't be needed anyway)
...most Railways in the US aren't fenced and Main Line freights and passenger trains happily run along City streets

Mearings

CIE seems to be more serious about securing the railway lines than heretofore.

dennis124wwr

Any news about the Athlone Mullingar Line?

demanufactured

dennis124wwr wrote: »

Any news about the Athlone Mullingar Line?

Its still there anyway.

end of the road

dennis124wwr wrote: »

Any news about the Athlone Mullingar Line?

yeah, it will never be reopened sadly

dennis124wwr

end of the road wrote: »

yeah, it will never be reopened sadly

How do you know?

demanufactured

dennis124wwr wrote: »

How do you know?

Well, Give some reasons why it would/could open?

corktina

yep, if you've any new arguments , lets hear them. Many times it has been explained on here why the service was re-routed to Heuston

Banjoxed

A bit of Roma locuta est, causa finita est going on.

Having a direct line into the city centre for western trains has been the best argument for restoring Mullingar to Athlone but due to the GSR's cheese paring vandalism of the Midland line in the twenties by singling it, there are capacity issues between Mullingar and Maynooth.

LXFlyer

Not to mention that even if that section were redoubled, going via Portarlington will be quicker due to the much higher line speed, and the fact that trains would have to cross and recross the Shannon in order to serve Athlone station.

Either way I don't expect any news about this line for some considerable time other than the odd bit of weed clearing.

corktina

not to mention the opportunities to change for the South of the Country, we don't all want to go to Dublin

Banjoxed

lxflyer wrote: »

Not to mention that even if that section were redoubled, going via Portarlington will be quicker due to the much higher line speed.

Well indeed and any reuse of Mullingar Athlone could only be a goer post slump. I am concerned though that any cycle lane would compromise the usefulness of it - Corktina's picture is of the Bitton Steam Railway near Bristol, is five miles long and has slow and not very frequent trains that go up and down the line at not very high speeds.

flazio

The Royal Canal Way is able to nestle in quite snugly between the line and the Canal so shouldn't be a problem there.
The Royal Canal alignment however is a problem if they are planning some sort of High Speed service, as pointed out, the Double (and Double,Double) line is running the Intercitys at up to 180km/h, the twists and turns of the line as it follows the Royal Canal from Dublin to Mullingar means that trains won't get anywhere near that no matter how many tracks you run beside each other, and, as I found out earlier this year, aside from Light Rail projects such as Luas and Bord Na Mona bog trains, there has been no new intercity routes or major realignments built since the foundation of the state.
Finally there's the issue of what to do with serving Athlone, do you try to reopen the Western Station or do you build another one on the Ballymahon Road? No cheap options here, best to stay as we are.

corktina

Banjoxed wrote: »

Well indeed and any reuse of Mullingar Athlone could only be a goer post slump. I am concerned though that any cycle lane would compromise the usefulness of it - Corktina's picture is of the Bitton Steam Railway near Bristol, is five miles long and has slow and not very frequent trains that go up and down the line at not very high speeds.

I bet you a quid there are more trains over that section of track than there are on the Ennis to Athenry line. (It's not my picture btw....I borrowed it from the link posted (and I 'm pretty sure it's called the Avon Valley Railway isn't it? It 's base is at Bitton.

Banjoxed

corktina wrote: »

I bet you a quid there are more trains over that section of track than there are on the Ennis to Athenry line. (It's not my picture btw....I borrowed it from the link posted (and I 'm pretty sure it's called the Avon Valley Railway isn't it? It 's base is at Bitton.

Meh. I used to drive under the railway bridge at Bitton twice a week on the back way to and from Keynsham and Bath - never had a run on it because unless its something like Meadbh or Tornado or an 071 I'm not really interested in motive power or two mile nowhere to nowhere lines. Yes, it is the Avon Valley Railway but it does get called the Bitton Railway locally, because that's pretty much where it is.

corktina

But you are inferring that a cycle path similar on the M to A would not be suitable as there would be more and faster trains on it. There would be less trains in fact, although they may be a little faster.

That photo shows that a cycle path on the M to A line would be possible without preventing a rail line from co-existing. Granted, it would be a little harder (but still feasible) to implement on a single line such as north of Tuam, but on this line it is quite possible.

FestyOSemtex

ONly solution I feel s to rip up the track and and convert it to a cycle/walk trail. Its not as if it will be reopened again.

corktina

it's clearly not the only solution.

dennis124wwr

The line has been cleared again.

dregin

Has anyone looked into using it as a heritage line?

dennis124wwr

dregin wrote: »

Has anyone looked into using it as a heritage line?

The base for steam trains is in Mullingar