Dublin–Westport/Galway railway line

The Dublin-Westport/Galway line is a major railway route from Dublin to Galway or Westport, County Mayo. 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.

Dublin–Westport Main Line Dublin–Galway Main Line
An ICR 22136 on the Rosshill level crossing on the Galway to Dublin service.
Overview
Type	Commuter rail, Inter-city rail Heavy rail
System	Iarnród Éireann
Status	Operational
Locale	Ireland
Termini	Dublin Heuston Westport Galway Ceannt
Stations	13 (to Galway) 12 (13 in exchange; to Westport)
Operation
Opened	1847
Owner	Iarnród Éireann
Operator(s)	Iarnród Éireann Commuter InterCity
Character	Primary
Rolling stock	22000 Class
Technical
Number of tracks	Double track (Dublin Heuston–Portarlington) Single track (Portarlington–Westport/Galway)
Track gauge	1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Irish gauge
Route map Year closed 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 Adamstown Hazelhatch and Celbridge Straffan 1947 Sallins and Naas Newbridge Kildare Dublin–Waterford line Monasterevin Portarlington Dublin to Cork line Tullamore Horseleap Branch to Mullingar 1964 Clara Athlone Ballinasloe Woodlawn Attymon Western Railway Corridor to Limerick Athenry Oranmore Galway Roscommon Castlerea Ballyhaunis Claremorris to Collooney Manulla Junction Exchange only Foxford Ballina Castlebar Westport to Achill 1937 Westport Quay 1978

Westport line

The Westport line was opened by the MGWR in 1866[1] to serve what was then a 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

1. Westport railway station Archived March 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine - eiretrains