Proposal to bring back Athlone to Mullingar rail line
The reinstatement of the rail line between Athlone and Mullingar is among the recommendations of a long-awaited All-Island Strategic Rail Review.
The review, launched in April 2021 by Eamon Ryan, Minister for Transport Ireland, and Nichola Mallon, then Minister at the Department for Infrastructure, Northern Ireland, was published today alongside the associated Strategic Environmental Assessment for consultation and is expected to be finalised by the end of this year.
The reinstatement of a single track rail link between Athlone and Mullingar is one of a number of recommendations that impact on the Athlone region. The reinstated link is envisaged as a longer term proposal in the report, with a delivery date between 2040 and 2050.
Also proposed is the double tracking of the line from Dublin to Athlone and Mullingar and the electrification of intercity and communter services between Portalington and Galway (through Athlone).
The review also recommends one train per hour on intercity routes, including between Dublin and Galway (via Athlone) and one train per two hours on regional routes including Dublin to Westport (via Athlone).
There is also a proposal for a new single track line between Portadown and Mullingar via Armagh, Monaghan, Clones and Cavan, which, in conjunction with the reinstated Mullingar to Athlone link, would link Athlone to Portadown.
The review estimates the cost of the Mullingar to Athlone link at €300m to €400m (at 2021 prices). The electrification and double tracking of the line from Portarlington to Galway through Athlone is estimated to cost some €800m to €1.3bn, whilst the Portadown to Mullingar link is given a price tag of €1.1bn to €1.6bn.
The report does not appear to make reference to the existence of a greenway alongside the old rail line between the towns. The Old Rail Trail greenway was opened in late 2015, stretching for some 40 kilometres alongside the disused rail line between Athlone and Mullingar. Parts of the former rail line have been removed.
If the review’s recommendations are implemented in full across the coming decades, the capital cost is estimated to be €36.8bn/£30.7bn.
Of this, the estimated capital cost that would apply to Ireland would total approximately €27.6bn/£23.0bn. If this investment was split evenly across 25 years in 2023 prices, then it would amount to annual capital investment in the rail system of €1.00bn/£0.92bn per annum over and above existing plans. This is roughly equivalent to peak annual investment in the motorway network in the late 2000s.
Similarly, for Northern Ireland the total capital cost estimate in 2023 prices is €9.2bn/£7.7bn, which is approximately €0.37bn/£0.31bn per annum over a 25-year period.
Today, the island of Ireland has about 2,300 km (1,440 miles) of public rail lines. If the recommendations in this new rail review are implemented this would increase to 2,950 km (1,845 miles) of new low-carbon, faster rail lines.
The report is now available online here
Public consultation has commenced as part of the Strategic Environmental Assessment process for the evaluation of the likely significant environmental effects of implementing the plan.
Interested parties can make submissions by email to strategicrailreview@arup.com by 11:59pm on Friday 29 September 2023.
Following the consultation period, the Minister for Transport and Government in Ireland as well as Minister for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, will be asked to approve the final Review incorporating any changes as a result of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) consultation process.