The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was the largest Irish gauge (1,600 mm/5 ft 3 in) railway company in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It grew to have the largest of Ireland's "Big Four" railway networks, taking over smaller companies and increasing its route mileage for much of its history.
The core of the GS&WR was the Dublin Kingsbridge – Cork main line, the "Premier Line", still one of Ireland's most important main line railways. William Dargan was the driving force behind this and other GS&WR routes (and also for other railways in Ireland not part of the GS&WR). The company's headquarters were Kingsbridge station. At its greatest extent the GS&WR included, in addition to the Dublin – Cork main line, the Dublin – Waterford and Mallow – Waterford lines and numerous branch lines.
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The GS&WR competed with the Midland Great Western Railway for many years. Both ran services westwards from Dublin: the GS&WR running southwest to Limerick, Cork and Waterford, and the MGWR running west to Galway, Westport, Ballina, and Sligo. The GS&WR also had designs on rail traffic to the west of Ireland. A branch was built from the Dublin – Cork main line to connect with the MGWR Dublin – Galway line at Athlone. Many years later Córas Iompair Éireann made this GS&WR branch part of its Dublin – Galway main line.
In 1901 the GS&WR bought the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway, which gave it both the Waterford - Limerick - Athenry - Claremorris - Collooney cross-country route and the North Kerry line and branches. The WLWR, recently dubbed the Western Rail Corridor, traversed MGWR territory. It did, however, complement the radial MGWR lines from Dublin, enabling Limerick – Galway and Galway – Sligo traffic, and linked intermediate destinations in the west of Ireland. For a very short time the MGWR exercised running powers over the Athenry - Limerick section of this route.
In an effort to encourage tourism the Killarney Junction Railway, which was operated by the GS&WR, opened in 1854 a hotel next to its station in Killarney. In was the first railway-owned hotel in Ireland and one of the first of its kind in the World. In the following years the GS&WR established further hotels in County Kerry at Caragh Lake, Kenmare, Waterville and Parknasilla. The company also owned small hotels at Limerick Junction and close to its stations in Dublin and Cork.
In 1925 the hotels became part of Great Southern Hotels, a subsidiary of Great Southern Railways. The Great Southern Hotels Group was dissolved in 2006, when its hotels were sold of separately to private investors.
The GS&WR is perhaps the best remembered of the former independent rail operators in Ireland's railway history, with GS&WR routes remaining some of the most heavily used in Ireland, connecting Dublin to Limerick, Cork, and Waterford. The coats of arms of these cities still adorn the facade of Heuston Station.
In 1924 the GS&WR merged with the Midland Great Western Railway, the Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway and most other railways wholly within the Irish Free State to form the Great Southern Railway. In 1925 the GSR merged with the Dublin and South Eastern Railway to form the Great Southern Railways. Cross-border railways were excluded from the mergers.
In 1945, further amalgamation with the Grand Canal Co., and the Dublin United Tramway Company brought about the creation of Córas Iompair Éireann ("Irish State Transport Company"). CIÉ was nationalised in 1950, but was divided into separate rail and road companies in 1987. From then until today, the railways are operated by Iarnród Eireann ("Irish Rail").