*Crusheen railway station.
WORK has commenced on the preparation of a socio-economic study on the benefits of reopening the Crusheen railway station.
Built in the 1860s, Crusheen railway station closed to passenger traffic in 1976 and to freight traffic in the 1990s.
Elected members in the Killaloe Municipal District have been vocal in their calls to see the station reopened and this has led to the commencement of a business case which is to be led by Ennis based Repucon Consulting.
Founder of Repucon Consulting, Mark O’Connell addressed Wednesday’s meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District to update councillors on the study so far. “We’ve seen projects like this on what they can do for rural regeneration. We’re delighted to be involved”. Their approach will be “an evidence-based” one.
He stated, “Our approach is we started to build socio-economic profile. Also looking at other areas with rail stations to understand the baseline usage, we will have the conversation with Irish Rail to see what influences their decisions to open a station to service Crusheen and the wider hinterland. The secondary research paints the picture of what is on the ground. What we really want to dig into it is people’s views on the opening of a rail station. We’ll do extensive community research and link in with community groups to get their buy-in to distribute the survey”. After the survey, further feedback will be provided to elected representatives before a report is drafted.
Population growth of Crusheen was described as “quite startling” with a fifty percent increase from 2022 to the most recent Census leaving the figure in the region of 5,800. Of this an approximate 4,500 are aged above fifteen, 2,700 are described as working with 550 students.
Initial findings for the study have found that 71 percent of people in the area travel to work by car and 97 percent of these travel alone. “The most important element for us is the community buy-in, will they support something like this and build up the picture of this and if they are likely to revert to train travel,” Mark outlined.
Repucon Consulting are working on an eight week timeframe, he told the meeting. O’Connell appealed to elected members to help them engage with local groups to distribute their survey. “We are based in Ennis and understand the geography quite well, we have worked a lot with Clare County Council and other Councils on structural surveys and we understand the opportunity for Crusheen and the hinterland”.
Cathaoirleach of the Killaloe MD, Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) labelled the reopening of Crusheen station as “a high priority”. The level of engagement proposed for the study is “really heartening,” he said and committed to provide any help needed to Repucon Consulting.
Information provided already on the study was welcomed by Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) who tabled a motion for a business case on the reopening. “We often talk about the need for it in Crusheen but what you’re doing Mark is very much part of putting meat on the bone, we believe and say it should be open but we don’t have facts and that is the business case we need”. Since the Census, a further fifty to one hundred houses have been built in Crusheen which he coined “the youngest village in the county”. He was “very proud” that the Killaloe MD engaged the services of the consultancy firm for the study.
Mayor of Clare, Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) expressed disappointment that the Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan (GP) had not included the reopening of the railway station in the All-Island strategic rail review. “Look at the development in Crusheen and Tulla, the amount of students that can benefit, there is great activity in Sixmilebridge which is a rural train station, to have one open in Crusheen with all the new houses is vitally important”.
“We’re not looking for something major, the train is already passing here, the facts will prove it,” Cllr Pat Burke (FG) commented. “I hope the facts will prove it is necessary,” he added. Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF) said, “We need to get the meat on the bone now, anything we can do to encourage that is welcome”.
