Disused railway line? Rip it up and use it for bikes and walking

nice_guy80

After being down in Mayo for a few days I had to write a few lines about the Western Greenway cycle and walking path from Achill to Westport

The amount of people on the route was unbelievable!
from families, couples, groups of teenagers out for a cycle as well as 'cycling tourists' who were clearly cycling round Ireland

added to that lots of people out walking, many with heavy backpacks on them

I was impressed by the amount of cyclists stopping in all the villages along the way, spending some money.

************
Between Mullingar and Athlone there is a very similar stretch of unused railway line.
Rip it up and lay down a tarmac or smooth cycling path

Would bring money to towns along the way - Mullingar, Castletown, Streamstown, Moate, Athlone. (future developments could be a spur down to Clara and from north of Multy up to Cavan along the old railway lines)
would allow bike hire businesses to be viable in athlone and mullingar.

if the canal paths were also upgraded you could have a network of walks and cycle routes through the county that would be unmatched anywhere.

Has any local organisation got the vision to put such a development in place??

L.Jenkins

I think the plan is to make it a cycle track between Athlone and Mullingar, but it will be a few years before it happens. I think it's proposed to start work on it by 2016 - 2020

washman3

It ha been done across county Limerick from Rathkeale to Abbeyfeale and now extended into North Kerry with Ballybunion (I think) being the final destination. Met with some objections from farmers along the way but all were eventually overcome.
its very popular now with walkers and cyclists and very safe.

nice_guy80

Itzy wrote: »

I think the plan is to make it a cycle track between Athlone and Mullingar, but it will be a few years before it happens. I think it's proposed to start work on it by 2016 - 2020

why should it take so long?
just tarmac over the tracks. they aren't being used.

athlonelad

nice_guy80 wrote: »

why should it take so long?.

Simple answer =$$$$$

roosterman71

Apparently Irish Rail can't commit that the track won't ever be re-opened. So the cycle lane can't go where the track is as it would have to be ripped up again

Some links on the proposals
Westmeath Independent
Westmeath CoCo
Old story from Athlone Advertiser

And the latest story about it where the confusion over the co-existence of the railway and cycle route are mentioned

nice_guy80

roosterman71 wrote: »

Apparently Irish Rail can't commit that the track won't ever be re-opened. So the cycle lane can't go where the track is as it would have to be ripped up again

Some links on the proposals
Westmeath Independent
Westmeath CoCo
Old story from Athlone Advertiser

And the latest story about it where the confusion over the co-existence of the railway and cycle route are mentioned

Irish Rail - joke

they are owned by the taxpayer.
if the route would better serve the taxpayer being a cycle lane than a disused railway line, then it should be changed.

Irish Rail even dismantled the rail junction in Mullingar years ago making it impossible for trains to switch onto the Athlone line.

walrusgumble

roosterman71 wrote: »

Apparently Irish Rail can't commit that the track won't ever be re-opened. So the cycle lane can't go where the track is as it would have to be ripped up again

Some links on the proposals
Westmeath Independent
Westmeath CoCo
Old story from Athlone Advertiser

And the latest story about it where the confusion over the co-existence of the railway and cycle route are mentioned

Look it is a nonsense to re-open the track or pretend that it will reopen. It won't. Who the hell would want or need to go to Mullingar? Naturally , Athlone is where it is at, and it can survive without peasanst from Mullingar coming in to shop etc. We have done without the track for some time. You might get to Mullingar quicker on a bike anyway

Open up the bike lane and actually bring something to the region worth talking about.

demanufactured

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Irish Rail - joke

they are owned by the taxpayer.
if the route would better serve the taxpayer being a cycle lane than a disused railway line, then it should be changed.

Irish Rail even dismantled the rail junction in Mullingar years ago making it impossible for trains to switch onto the Athlone line.

Line is still connected at mullingar

JOS52

Yes it is still connected in mullingar - would it still allow for a cycle route between athlone to mullingar?

demanufactured

Of course it would.
There's plenty of room for both rail line and a cycleway.
This was once a double tracked line so there's plenty of space

nice_guy80

demanufactured wrote: »

Of course it would.
There's plenty of room for both rail line and a cycleway.
This was once a double tracked line so there's plenty of space

except now the track is NEVER used

whats the point in having it closed, if it cannot be re-used

Mearings

http://www.flickr.com/photos/be216cd1/8865889588/in/set-72157633759839850/

Athlone to Mullingar was originally double tracked. Note below how half the bridge was removed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/be216cd1/8865877682/in/set-72157633759839850/

Zubeneschamali

Mearings wrote: »

Athlone to Mullingar was originally double tracked.

The new bridge at Garrycastle had to be designed to accomodate a double track even though it was single tracked in 1928!

Mearings

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

The new bridge at Garrycastle had to be designed to accomodate a double track even though it was single tracked in 1928!

Maybe that bridge will be wide enough for a bicycle lane + access to the
Athlone/Mullingar greenway beneath Garrycastle bridge'

Zubeneschamali

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

The new bridge at Garrycastle had to be designed to accomodate a double track even though it was single tracked in 1928!

It would be considered very short sighted to design for a single track when the costs are only marginaly higher to build a double (or single track + cycle lane) bridge.

uisceshots

There's always one feckin idiot who feels he has to comment on these posts. And they are usually from Westmeath's 2nd town.....!

nice_guy80

this railway will never be financially viable (there are too many wasters and scumbags living in Athlone and Mullingar who have never worked a day in their lives and so will never need to commute anywhere!)

better to rip up the track and encourage some tourism on the route between the two towns

nice_guy80

nice_guy80 wrote: »

this railway will never be financially viable (there are too many wasters and scumbags living in Athlone and Mullingar who have never worked a day in their lives and so will never need to commute anywhere!)

better to rip up the track and encourage some tourism on the route between the two towns

I don't think that it has anything to do with commuting between Athlone & Mullingar, it's more to do with providing an additional rail link between Galway & the west and Dublin and the rest of the country.

whyulittle

Plenty of reading on it, here.

nice_guy80

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't think that it has anything to do with commuting between Athlone & Mullingar, it's more to do with providing an additional rail link between Galway & the west and Dublin and the rest of the country.

the councillors are always harping on about connecting Athlone and Mullingar.
why bother when a car is quicker (and cheaper)

nice_guy80

nice_guy80 wrote: »

the councillors are always harping on about connecting Athlone and Mullingar.
why bother when a car is quicker (and cheaper)

I agree, but always look at the bigger picture, ie. a national transport strategy.

nice_guy80

Deleted User wrote: »

I agree, but always look at the bigger picture, ie. a national transport strategy.

do bicycles not count as a transport?

the chances of that railway ever being open again are nil

nice_guy80

nice_guy80 wrote: »

do bicycles not count as a transport?

the chances of that railway ever being open again are nil

It's a double track bed, you can easily have both on that line.

EDit

Deleted User wrote: »

It's a double track bed, you can easily have both on that line.

Unless i am thinking of a different unused railway in Athlone, it's not double track all the way is it?. The bit that i (and many other people) use to get from the road with the Irish school and Sports Centre up to Garrycastle is single track and with all the houses on the left and right sides, you'd be hard pushed to safely have both a functioning train line and a cycle track on that part. Pretty sure it is also single track the West side of the unused road crossing (where the pedestrian crossing is next to Sarsfield Square) as well and there is a lot of housing around it there as well that would make it difficult to have both alongside each other. Since (i believe from local gossip and the local rag) the idea is to have a cycle route all the way from Dublin to Galway, it would make no sense to have a situation where the cycle route had to stop (or you had to leave the cycle path at Garrycastle, cycle through Athlone town, and the rejoin the path on the Roscommon side).

EDit

On a side note, the state of many of the sleepers on that part between the unused road crossing and garrycastle bridge (many are fire damaged from little bonfires) would surely mean they would need to rip up the those parts of the track and start again even if the line reopened

EDit

EDit wrote: »

On a side note, the state of many of the sleepers on that part between the unused road crossing and garrycastle bridge (many are fire damaged from little bonfires) would surely mean they would need to rip up the those parts of the track and start again even if the line reopened

Yes, most of the line would have deteriorated to the point that replacement would be the only option by now.

EDit

EDit wrote: »

Unless i am thinking of a different unused railway in Athlone, it's not double track all the way is it?. The bit that i (and many other people) use to get from the road with the Irish school and Sports Centre up to Garrycastle is single track and with all the houses on the left and right sides, you'd be hard pushed to safely have both a functioning train line and a cycle track on that part. Pretty sure it is also single track the West side of the unused road crossing (where the pedestrian crossing is next to Sarsfield Square) as well and there is a lot of housing around it there as well that would make it difficult to have both alongside each other. Since (i believe from local gossip and the local rag) the idea is to have a cycle route all the way from Dublin to Galway, it would make no sense to have a situation where the cycle route had to stop (or you had to leave the cycle path at Garrycastle, cycle through Athlone town, and the rejoin the path on the Roscommon side).

Someone posted further up in this thread that it used to be double track all the way and that the second track was removed in the1920s, looking at the photos linked above you can clearly see where the second track used to be.

So no problems with rebuilding a single track and installing a cycle lane along the entire route.

nice_guy80

the whole line will have to be ripped up and concrete sleepers put down if regular train services are ever to happen again - which it won't.

there is no need for a train service between Athlone and Mullingar.
the two towns have very little interaction

cycle route would bring money to towns along the route

re-opening the railway line will just cost a fortune and then be underused and so loss making, just like the reopened Athenry to Ennis line.

EDit

I can't view all of those photos (too slow on my old ipad), but i'd be surprised if it was double track all the way. If you look at this photo http://www.geograph.ie/photo/3286074 which is of the level crossing i was referring to earlier, there is just one track. Also, there are fences pretty much either side of the hedges shown in the photo (the hedges have been cut back now, so it is easier to see the actual width) so, as i said i would be surprised if they would safely fit them side by side on this section (there is physical room to do this, but i would imagine there are regulations on how much space you would need between a functioning railway line and a cycle path).

Zubeneschamali

EDit wrote: »

I can't view all of those photos (too slow on my old ipad), but i'd be surprised if it was double track all the way.

Be surprised so. Look at the OS 25" map here, you can follow the line all the way, and it was double track.