Dublin–Westport/Galway railway line

Dublin–Galway/Westport railway line
Phoenix Park Tunnel to Dublin Connolly Luas Red Line to Dublin Connolly & The Point Dublin Heuston Luas Red Line to Tallaght & Saggart Inchicore Works Park West and Cherry Orchard Clondalkin/Fonthill Kishoge (Unused) Adamstown Hazelhatch and Celbridge Straffanclosed Sallins and Naas Newbridge Kildare Dublin–Waterford Line Monasterevin Portarlington Dublin to Cork main line Tullamore Horseleap Branch connecting to Mullingar closed 1964 Clara Athlone Ballinasloe Woodlawn Attymon Western Railway Corridor to Limerick Athenry Claremorris (Disused) Oranmore Galway Roscommon Castlerea Ballyhaunis Athenry (Disused) Claremorris Collooney (Disused) Manulla Junction (Exchange only) Foxford Ballina Castlebar Westport Midland Gt Western Rly to Achill closed 1937 Westport Quay

The Dublin-Westport/Galway line is a major railway route from Dublin to the towns of Westport in County Mayo and Galway in County Galway. The line is part of the greater intercity rail network formed by branches of the main line between Dublin and Cork. The route to Westport and Galway branches away from the main line at Portarlington in County Laois and continues as far as Athlone in County Westmeath, where it splits again, with one branch to Westport and the other to Galway.

Westport line

The Westport line was opened by the MGWR in 1866^[1] to serve the then major port. At this point, services ran from Broadstone station in Dublin via Mullingar. However, the GSWR route reached Athlone in 1859, which gave a second route from Kingsbridge station. Following the rationalisation of the railway network by Córas Iompair Éireann, the GSWR route was made the main route from Dublin to the west coast after 1973.

Galway line

The Galway line was opened by the MGWR in 1851, which became the primary route to the west coast city from Dublin. The GSWR route to Athlone opened in 1859, but the company also ran another route in the west of the country, when it purchased the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway, which operated the Waterford-Collooney route that called at Athenry. In 1973, CIÉ made the former GSWR route the main one to Galway, with services on the old MGWR line slowly withdrawn, until they were ended in 1987.

Today

As of March 2018 all services to both Westport and Galway are operated under the Intercity brand using the former GSWR route from Dublin Heuston. Services are operated by Iarnród Éireann's 22000 Class DMU. There are nine trains daily in each direction to and from Dublin and Galway on Monday to Thursday with 8 from Heuston to Galway and nine from Galway to Dublin. On Saturday there are 9 trains from Heuston to Galway and 8 from Galway to Heuston. On Sunday there are 6 trains in each direction from Heuston to Galway. There are 4 trains from Heuston to Westport Monday to Thursday and 5 from Westport to Heuston. On Friday there are 5 trains in each direction. On Saturday and Sunday there are 3 trains from Heuston to Westport and 4 from Westport to Heuston. These trains usually operate in 3 to 7 car ICR trains.

References