Athlone railway station

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Dublin to Galway/Westport Line

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Athlone

Galway to Limerick Line (Opens 2008)

Oranmore (Opens 2008)

Athlone railway station serves the town of Athlone in County Roscommon and County Westmeath. The station is at the junction between the railway lines between Dublin-Galway and Dublin-Westport. There was a railway line to Mullingar but it is now disused. There are three platforms, of which Numbers 2 and 3 are an island platform.

The station opened on October 3, 1859.^[1]

Preceding station	Iarnród Éireann			Following station
Clara		Intercity Dublin-Galway		Ballinasloe
Clara		Intercity Dublin-Westport/Ballina		Roscommon

The old MGW station
photo:Peter Gerken

In 1851, the first public train stopped at the Midland Great Western Railway Station, which was located on the west side of the Shannon. The Great Southern and Western Railway Station on the east side of the river (now Athlone Railway Station) was completed in 1859. For many years the two railway stations operated independently but merged in 1925. After this merger, the Great Southern and Western Railway Station became a goods station while the other station enjoyed the monopoly of all the passenger traffic. The Midland Great Western Railway Station closed in 1985, when Athlone Railway Station was transferred to the newly renovated station, where it is located today.