History of rail transport in Ireland


The history of rail transport in Ireland began only a decade later than that of Great Britain. By its peak in 1920, Ireland had 3,500 route miles. The current status is less than half that amount, with a large unserviced area around the border area between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Railways on the island of Ireland are run by Iarnród Éireann within Ireland and Northern Ireland Railways within Northern Ireland. The two companies jointly operate the island's only cross-border service, the Enterprise, between Dublin and Belfast. The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland based in Whitehead, County Antrim runs preserved steam trains on the main line, with the Irish Traction Group preserving diesel locomotives, and operating on the main line. The Downpatrick and County Down Railway is the only self-contained full-size heritage railway in the island of Ireland.

Transport before railways

Transport on a country-wide scale began in 1710 with the introduction by the General Post Office of mail coaches on the main routes between towns. Private operators added to the routes, and an established "turnpike" road system started in the 1730s. In 1715 the Irish Parliament took steps to encourage inland navigation, but it was not until 1779 that the first 19 km section of the Grand Canal was opened. The addition of the Royal Canal and river navigation meant that freight could be transported more easily. Charles Bianconi established his horse-car services in the south in 1815, the first of many such passenger-carrying operations. Despite these improvements huge areas of Ireland still relied on a basic road system; turnpikes were still slow and canals were expensive.

Ireland's first railway

Although a railway between Limerick and Waterford had been authorised as early as 1826 it was not until 1834 that the first railway was built, the Dublin and Kingstown Railway between Westland Row in Dublin and Kingstown, a distance of 10 km. Due to local opposition the first terminus, Kingstown Harbour, was adjacent to the West Pier. It took a further three years before the line reached the site of the present station.
The contractor was William Dargan, called "the founder of railways in Ireland", due to his participation in many of the main routes. The D&KR was notable in being the earliest dedicated commuter railway in the world. The planning undertaken was also noteworthy: a full survey of the existing road traffic was made, in addition to careful land surveys.
As well as the traffic survey showing existing volumes to be healthy, there was the potential from the ever-expanding port at Kingstown. On 9 October 1834 the locomotive Hibernia brought a train the full route from the Westland Row terminus to Kingstown. The railway was built to.
The entire route forms part of the present day Dublin Area Rapid Transit electrified commuter rail system.

Railway gauges

The track gauge adopted by the mainline railways is 5 ft 3 in, or "Irish gauge". This unusual gauge is otherwise found only in the Australian states of Victoria, southern New South Wales and South Australia, and in Brazil.
The first three railways in Ireland all had different gauges: the Dublin and Kingstown Railway used "Stephenson gauge" ; the Ulster Railway used a very broad gauge of ; and the Dublin and Drogheda Railway used the less-broad gauge. Following complaints from the Ulster Railway, the Board of Trade investigated the matter, and in 1843 recommended the use of and that compensation be paid to the Ulster Railway for the costs incurred in changing to the new gauge.

Main line railways

By the beginning of the 20th century, the main line railways were:

Belfast and County Down Railway

The Belfast and County Down Railway linked Belfast south-eastwards into County Down. It was incorporated in 1846; the first section opened in 1848; absorbed into the Ulster Transport Authority in 1948 and all but the line to Bangor closed in 1950.

Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway

The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway was one of the major Irish railways; incorporated 1845, the first section opened 1851. It operated from Cork, serving towns along the southern coastal strip to the west of the city. It had a route length of 150 km, all single line. The Railway was largely concerned with tourist traffic, and there were many road car routes connecting with the line, including one from Bantry to Killarney called The Prince of Wales Route, which operated at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Clonakilty Extension Railway 14 km, opened 1886, was worked by the CB&SCR

County Donegal Railways Joint Committee

The County Donegal Railways Joint Committee operated in north-west Ireland during the 20th century. The parent line opened 1863, 178 km . It was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1906 which authorised the joint purchase of the then Donegal Railway Company by the Great Northern Railway of Ireland and the Midland Railway Northern Counties Committee.
The Strabane and Letterkenny Railway 31 km, opened 1909, was worked by the CDRJC

Dublin and South Eastern Railway

The Dublin and South Eastern Railway was originally incorporated, by Act of Parliament in 1846, as the Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow and Dublin Railway Company; incorporated 1846, the first section opened 1856. It was known more simply as the Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway Company between 1860 and 31 December 1906 when it became the DSE. Amongst the lines forming the DSE were:
  • The Dublin and Kingstown Railway authorised 1831, it opened in 1834 – the first public railway in Ireland. The Kingstown-Dalkey section was operated by atmospheric traction for a short while. The railway formed part of the Royal Mail route between London and Dublin via the packet station at Kingstown.
  • The City of Dublin Junction Railway 2 km, opened 1 May 1891, the Dublin and Kingstown Railway 10 km ; opened 1834, and the New Ross and Waterford Extension Railway 22 km ; opened 1904 were all worked by the D&SER.

    Great Northern Railway of Ireland

The route of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland, which exists today from Dublin to Belfast and Drogheda to Navan, emerged, like so many others of the former major railway companies in Ireland, as the result of many amalgamations with smaller lines. The earliest dates of incorporation were for:
  • the Ulster Railway, the second railway project to start in Ireland, incorporated May 1836, partially opened 1839; it was originally constructed to a gauge of, but was later altered, under protest, to the new. The companies forming the Dublin to Belfast line and those connecting to it were obliged to contribute part of this cost.
  • the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, also incorporated 1839, opened in 1844.
  • the Irish North Western Railway, incorporated in 1862 in a merger between the Dundalk and Enniskillen Railway and the Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway, operated from Dundalk and Portadown via Enniskillen and Omagh to Derry.
  • the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway, incorporated in 1845 and opened in stages between 1849 and 1853.
In 1875, the D&D and the D&BJct merged to form the Northern Railway of Ireland and thirteen months later the Great Northern Railway was formed when the Ulster Railway and the INWR joined this concern. Other minor railways were subsequently taken over. At its height, in the thirty or so years prior to World War I, the GNR covered a large area of Ireland between Dublin, Belfast, Derry and Bundoran. By the end of World War II the company was in dire straits. It struggled on until 1953 when it was nationalised by the two Governments, becoming the Great Northern Railway Board.
In 1957, the Government of Northern Ireland unilaterally ordered the GNRB to close most of their lines west of the River Bann within Northern Ireland. This left some useless stubs within the Republic, such as through Pettigo station; 13 km from the border to Bundoran and Monaghan to Glaslough. The Irish Government had no choice but to abandon these stubs. The one exception, which survived until 1965, was the line from Portadown to Derry via Dungannon and Omagh.
The GNRB was abolished on 1 October 1958, when it was split between the Ulster Transport Authority and Córas Iompair Éireann in Northern Ireland and the Republic, respectively. This gave rise to the interesting situation whereby part of the line between Strabane and Derry was in the Republic of Ireland and the stations and permanent way staff on this section were CIÉ employees, even though there was no physical link to the rest of the CIÉ rail network.
The Castleblayney, Keady and Armagh Railway 29 km, opened in 1909 was worked by the GNR

Great Southern & Western Railway

Still known today as the 'premier line', the Great Southern & Western Railway was the largest railway system in Ireland. It began as a railway incorporated to connect Dublin with Cashel – incorporated 6 August 1844 – and which was afterwards extended to the city of Cork. While the Cashel line became a branch between Thurles and Limerick Junction. Various other amalgamations took place until the end of the 19th century, among them lines to Limerick and Waterford.
In 1900, as a result of Acts of Parliament, several important lines became part of the GS&WR system, including the Waterford & Central Ireland Railway and the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway. The latter connected Sligo to Limerick. The Railway also connected with the Midland Great Western Railway main line at Athlone on its Dublin–Galway main line.
The Athenry and Tuam Extension Light Railway 27 km, Baltimore Extension Light Railway 13 km, Tralee and Fenit Railway 13 km ; opened 1887 and Waterford, New Ross and Wexford Junction Railway 5 km were worked by the Great Southern & Western Railway.