Mullingar to Galway return

karen89

Hi, my daughter will be starting her nursing placement in Mullingar at the end of October and will need to commute at the weekends, so that would be Mullingar to Galway on Friday evening/night and returning on Sunday! any info anyone could give me with be appreciated!

landofthetree

karen89 wrote: »

Hi, my daughter will be starting her nursing placement in Mullingar at the end of October and will need to commute at the weekends, so that would be Mullingar to Galway on Friday evening/night and returning on Sunday! any info anyone could give me with be appreciated!

Bad new is direct buses between the two are few enough. Route

Good new is there is a great service between Kinnegad and Galway.

landofthetree

karen89 wrote: »

Hi, my daughter will be starting her nursing placement in Mullingar at the end of October and will need to commute at the weekends, so that would be Mullingar to Galway on Friday evening/night and returning on Sunday! any info anyone could give me with be appreciated!

Bad new is direct buses between the two are few enough. Route 70

Good new is there is a great service between Kinnegad and Galway. Both Bus Eireann and private bus companies are on this route.

LXFlyer

Route 70 timetable is here:
http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1425901865-070.pdf

Route 20/X20 is here:
http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1425312457-020X.pdf

Use both to plan a journey.

Banjoxed

Tullamore is half an hour's drive away for the train to Galway. There is a bus between Mullingar and Tullamore but the timetables will be on the National Journey Planner.

Pity money was spaffed on ensuring the direct rail connection to Galway from Mullingar will be unusable for trains at any speed in the future. Maybe that was the point.

Carawaystick

The fact there's only a limited bus route here suggests there is very low demand for Mullingar to Athlone pt and might not need a rail connection.

Banjoxed

Carawaystick wrote: »

The fact there's only a limited bus route here suggests there is very low demand for Mullingar to Athlone pt and might not need a rail connection.

Rubbish connections become a self fulfilling prophecy. Simples, really.

Lenton Lane

Carawaystick wrote: »

The fact there's only a limited bus route here suggests there is very low demand for Mullingar to Athlone pt and might not need a rail connection.

It's not about a specific connection between Mullingar and Athlone and it never was. The reason the Galway and Westport trains were rerouted to Heuston via Tullamore was the age old issue of capacity at Connolly. That capacity issue would have been resolved in the longer term had the DTTAS not scrapped Dart Underground in the upcoming Capital Investment Programme.

Of course the old MGWR route via Mullingar was more direct and it was hoped that the route would be reestablished at least to provide some extra capacity for freight. Sadly there's now a Greenway next to the line - despite the Royal and Grand Canals offering a traffic free route to Athlone - meaning there will never be an operational railway down that route ever again.

Another example of Greenways killing railways.

guylikeme

Lenton Lane wrote: »

It's not about a specific connection between Mullingar and Athlone and it never was. The reason the Galway and Westport trains were rerouted to Heuston via Tullamore was the age old issue of capacity at Connolly. That capacity issue would have been resolved in the longer term had the DTTAS not scrapped Dart Underground in the upcoming Capital Investment Programme.

Of course the old MGWR route via Mullingar was more direct and it was hoped that the route would be reestablished at least to provide some extra capacity for freight. Sadly there's now a Greenway next to the line - despite the Royal and Grand Canals offering a traffic free route to Athlone - meaning there will never be an operational railway down that route ever again.

Another example of Greenways killing railways.

Aren't the tracks still there? Is it outside realm of possibility that the two could Co exist?

I'm asking here as admittedly I don't know

Jem72

I had a look at the greenway a few weeks back although it wasn't technically open. The track switches sides with the trail more than once in the 4km between Ballinea and the Mulllingar end of the greenway.

Anyway, the track is in such woeful condition that nothing will go down there without a complete re-lay. The sleepers are very rotten - so bad that many of them have rotted completely through in the middle. It would have made sense to have lifted the track before building the greenway but perhaps the scrap value is lower than the lifting cost.

Lenton Lane

Jem72 wrote: »

I had a look at the greenway a few weeks back although it wasn't technically open. The track switches sides with the trail more than once in the 4km between Ballinea and the Mulllingar end of the greenway.

Anyway, the track is in such woeful condition that nothing will go down there without a complete re-lay. The sleepers are very rotten - so bad that many of them have rotted completely through in the middle. It would have made sense to have lifted the track before building the greenway but perhaps the scrap value is lower than the lifting cost.

The tracks are being left in place so it can be claimed that the line hasn't been lifted and closed. In reality the line would need to be totally relaid if it were to be re-opened, and the greenway would need to be significantly narrowed and fenced off from the track.

Even then it's a pretty dumb idea, running a greenway beside the old line especially since there are tow paths beside both the Royal and Grand canals that would have worked far better as a greenway.

Carawaystick

Lenton Lane wrote: »

Even then it's a pretty dumb idea, running a greenway beside the old line especially since there are tow paths beside both the Royal and Grand canals that would have worked far better as a greenway.

Which part of Athlone do the canal towpaths go to?

Jem72

Neither canal goes anywhere near Athlone. The Royal finishes in Clondra - about 30 km upstream of Athlone and the Grand finishes in Shannon Harbour which is in the middle of nowhere on the Westmeath - Offaly border, about 15km downstream.

Building the greenway near a major population centre like Athlone which has excellent public transport links opens up a whole range of options for people doing day trips that wouldn't be available if the route didn't go through Athlone.

It is a pity that no way could be found to re-open Athlone-Muilingar as a railway, but since it is not going to happen the greenway will effectively preserve the route. The cost of re-routing the greenway if it ever were to be re-opened would be lost in the noise of the cost of the railway project.

I can't see how cycling or walking alongside an operational railway with at most one train per hour could be a problem. It is certainly far preferable to walking along a road.

Lenton Lane

Carawaystick wrote: »

Which part of Athlone do the canal towpaths go to?

You trying to be smart? Of course the canals don't go to Athlone.

The point is that the Greenway is part of a wider Dublin-Galway route, rather than linking Athlone and Mullingar. The Grand Canal ends up at Shannon Harbour in Co Offaly and an off road route from there to Galway would need to be established.

In any case the greenway route from Athlone to Galway isn't yet established and there is a crazy proposal by certain greenway campaigners to run it alongside the Athlone Galway railway line. If that was the case it would be impossible to build any further passing loops or double track on the link and cyclists would be affected by turbulence from passing trains.

Lenton Lane

Jem72 wrote: »

Neither canal goes anywhere near Athlone. The Royal finishes in Clondra - about 30 km upstream of Athlone and the Grand finishes in Shannon Harbour which is in the middle of nowhere on the Westmeath - Offaly border, about 15km downstream.

Building the greenway near a major population centre like Athlone which has excellent public transport links opens up a whole range of options for people doing day trips that wouldn't be available if the route didn't go through Athlone.

It is a pity that no way could be found to re-open Athlone-Muilingar as a railway, but since it is not going to happen the greenway will effectively preserve the route. The cost of re-routing the greenway if it ever were to be re-opened would be lost in the noise of the cost of the railway project.

I can't see how cycling or walking alongside an operational railway with at most one train per hour could be a problem. It is certainly far preferable to walking along a road.

Let's be clear; the Greenway kills the railway route. There won't be any trains on that line ever again.

Mrs OBumble

Lenton Lane wrote: »

Let's be clear; the Greenway kills the railway route. There won't be any trains on that line ever again.

Was is the greenway? Or was it the lack of demand in the first place?

cml387

The closing of the old railway station in Athlone and the move to the present station did for the Mullingar Athlone route.
Connolly-Athlone is actually slightly longer than Heuston Athlone.

And how is this poor woman to get her daughter to Galway?

Carawaystick

cml387 wrote: »

And how is this poor woman to get her daughter to Galway?

By train between Galway and Athlone, and by bike from Athlone to Mullingar...

Lenton Lane

cml387 wrote: »

The closing of the old railway station in Athlone and the move to the present station did for the Mullingar Athlone route.
Connolly-Athlone is actually slightly longer than Heuston Athlone.

And how is this poor woman to get her daughter to Galway?

Learn to drive and buy a car. That would be in line with Departmental policy :-/

LXFlyer

There were a number of factors that led to the lines closure and which would militate against it being re-opened:

1) The upgrading of the Heuston-Portarlington-Athlone line to a line speed higher than that on the Connolly-Mullingar-Athlone route. This route is shorter and faster.

2) The increased number of suburban services on the line out of Connolly - with only two tracks, Intercity paths would be limited and consequently journey times slower.

3) The closure of Athlone (Midland) Station on the west of the Shannon and the re-opening of the GSR Station at Athlone (which is much closer to the town centre), which meant that any train coming from Connolly via Mullingar would have to reverse to access the station.

All of these factors meant that running a service via Moate and Mullingar really isn't worthwhile.

=========================================================================================================

To answer the OP, the only routes available are:

1) Bus Eireann route 70 from Mullingar to Athlone and Bus Eireann route 20/X20 from there to Galway, or

2) Bus Eireann route 115 from Mullingar to Kinnegad, and either Bus Eireann route 20, or Citylink service 763 from there to Galway.

Through ticketing is available on the Bus Eireann services.

Timetables are here:
Bus Eireann route 20/X20: http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1425312457-020X.pdf
Bus Eireann route 70: http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1425901865-070.pdf
Bus Eireann route 115: http://www.buseireann.ie/timetables/1425902246-115.pdf
Citylink route 763: http://www.citylink.ie/timetables#timetables_modal_10

Graham

cml387 wrote: »

And how is this poor woman to get her daughter to Galway?

Funny thread.

The answer to the OP appears to be open a railway station and bring a couple of old lines back into service. There may or may not have been hints at using the canal as an alternative. :rolleyes:

Lenton Lane

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Was is the greenway? Or was it the lack of demand in the first place?

It was nothing to do with demand.

There was a conscious decision by CIÉ Railways in the 1970s to shift the bulk of Galway/Westport/Ballina trains to Heuston as there was a lack of capacity coming into Connolly. Connolly and Pearse replaced Broadstone in the 1930s after it closed.

The last regular passenger trains to use the line were the late night Galway-Connolly mail trains.

Graham

OP, take a look here and try the journey planner.

http://www.transportforireland.ie/

It looks like all of the options involve at least one transfer with a journey time of 2.5 - 3 hours.

Jem72

Depending on where you are relative to Mullingar, the Bus Éireann 65 Belfast to Galway service might be of some help if you can get dropped to Edgeworthstown. The train timetable isn't very helpful for making the connection unfortunately.