Athlone railway station

For the railway station in Australia, see Athlone railway station, Victoria.

Athlone Baile Átha Luain
General information
Location	Southern Station Road, Athlone, County Westmeath, N37 DF24 Ireland
Coordinates	53°25′38″N 7°56′12″W
Owned by	Iarnród Éireann
Operated by	Iarnród Éireann
Platforms	3
Bus routes	11
Bus operators	Bus Eireann TFI Local Link
Connections	70 72 73 190 440 461 466 819 850 A1 A2
Construction
Structure type	At-grade
Other information
Station code	ATLNE
Fare zone	K
History
Opened	1859

The old MGWR station

Dublin to Galway/Westport
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

Athlone railway station is a station which serves the town of Athlone in County Roscommon and County Westmeath. It is located in the town on the east side of the river Shannon.

The station is an interchange station between the Dublin-Galway and Dublin-Westport rail services. In addition it is located adjacent to the town's bus station.

There are three platforms, of which Numbers 2 and 3 are an island platform.

History

Athlone has had two Railway stations of varying roles over time. They are on opposite sides of the River Shannon, connected by the White Bridge.

Midland Great Western Railway

The first of these was built by the Midland Great Western Railway and opened on 1 August 1851. Designed by J.S. Mulvany, it has a long, rather austere façade, in an Italianate style. The two-storey building has a staggering seventeen-bay façade which is broken by four breakfronts. It connected Galway and Dublin via the MGWR mainline, which ran between Dublin Broadstone railway station, Mullingar and Athlone via Moate. Since 1985 it has served as engineering offices and stores for Irish Rail.

Great Southern and Western Railway

The second was opened in 1859 by the Great Southern and Western Railway that reached Galway via a branch of the Cork main line. For many years there was great rivalry between the two railway companies who developed the railway stations in Athlone but this was subsequently solved by arbitration.

In the 1920s this station was designated as the goods station for Athlone and served in that capacity until 1985 when it became the mainline railway station for the town. The design, by Wilkinson, is a simple but elegant Italianate style of five-bays and two storeys. The success of the design is in its simplicity and in the decorative features. The entrance with its three arches supported on Doric pillars and the attractive ashlar architraves on the windows all add elegance to this piece of Irish railway architecture.

Great Southern Railways

In 1924, the MGWR and GSWR were merged into a single company, Great Southern Railways, which rationalised all passenger services to Galway through the old MGWR station in Athlone, leaving the GSWR station primarily as a goods terminal. This changed in the 1970s and 1980s, when the national transport operator Córas Iompair Éireann switched most of its passenger services to the GSWR route via Portarlington, with the consequence that the old GSWR station was renovated and the MGWR station closed.

The closed MGWR station, seen from a passing train.

See also

• List of railway stations in Ireland

External links

• Irish Rail: Athlone Station

Preceding station	Iarnród Éireann			Following station
Clara		InterCity Dublin–Westport/Galway railway line (via Portarlington)		Ballinasloe
		InterCity Dublin–Westport/Galway railway line (via Ballyhaunis)		Roscommon
	Disused railways
Moate Line and station closed		Midland Great Western Railway Dublin-Galway (via Mullingar)		Ballinasloe