*Crusheen’s rail stop was on the agenda in the Seanad.
NO PLANS exist to reopen the railway station in Crusheen, senior officials in the Department of Transport have said.
Originally built in the 1860s, Crusheen railway station closed in 1976 for passenger traffic and in the 1990s for freight traffic. Funding of €1.5m was announced by former Clare TD, Tony Killeen (FF) for the provision of a rail stop but this never materialised.
Repeated efforts have been made by local representatives in the Killaloe Municipal District to try bring the station back to life in some capacity. Now, the Department of Transport have said there is no plans for the Crusheen stop to return.
Senator Martin Conway (FG) raised the matter on two occasions in the Seanad last week. He argued that “it is not a big issue to reopen it. It should be reopened simply because the rail line between Limerick and Galway is now extremely successful. I take the train from Ennis to Dublin every week. I take it in both directions. I get it from Ennis to Limerick and on to Dublin. Sometimes I get it from Ennis to Athenry and on to Dublin. I return on a Thursday evening both ways again, regularly. I have noticed in the last number of years, excluding the years of the pandemic, that the rail line between Limerick and Galway is extremely busy”.
Students in Limerick and Galway are using the train frequently along with young professionals, he said. “About 15 years ago when the western rail corridor was opened, there was much criticism that it would not work or be viable. The facts and figures speak for themselves. On a Thursday evening, in particular, one can just about get standing room on the trains between Limerick and Galway”.
He added, “The Crusheen railway station is about six or seven minutes on the rail line between Ennis and Galway. A number of housing estates have been built in Crusheen in recent years and there is potential for many more. People living in communities around Crusheen, such as Corofin, Ruan and other areas closer to Ennis, would be more inclined and attracted to using Crusheen railway station.
“My question is simple. We are not talking about building a new railway station but recommissioning an old station. That would be of enormous benefit to the people of Crusheen and the surrounding areas, and to County Clare and the rural areas of Ennis. It would be a statement by the Government and Iarnród Éireann that they are committed to people living in places like Crusheen and commuting. It would provide people with an easy way of commuting. Many of these railways stations are unmanned and automatic. The station in Oranmore, I understand, is automatic. There is no reason the station in Crusheen could not be automatic”.
Junior Minister in the Department of Transport, Dara Calleary (FF) flagged that “the operation, maintenance and renewal of the rail network and stations on it, including the station at Crusheen, is a matter for Iarnród Éireann in the first instance”. An all-island strategic rail review co-commissioned by the Department with the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure is at “a very advanced state”, this will force Iarnród Éireann to show that any project hoping to get funding aligns with transport and public policy and it must also have “a robust business case”.
According to Calleary, the Minister for Transport was “not aware of any plans to reopen the station at Crusheen” but said the matter could be kept “under review in line with future demand trends, but at present there is no provision for a station with the current funding profile”.
Opening a rail line between Ennis and Shannon as well as Shannon and Limerick is “an excellent proposal,” Senator Conway acknowledged but felt reopening Crusheen “should be considered much sooner than the opening of rail lines between Limerick and Shannon. It should be done first because, sadly and unfortunately, we all know we will wait a long time for a rail link between Limerick, Shannon and Ennis. This is something that could be done quickly”.
Calleary responded, “operational issues such as the opening of stations are a matter for Iarnród Éireann, not the Minister for Transport”. He encouraged Senator Conway to pursue the matter with Jim Meade of Iarnród Éireann.
While addressing Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan (GP) in the Seanad on Thursday, Senator Conway reinforced his belief that extra railway stations such as Crusheen would help a ‘ballooning’ service.
Minister Ryan was open to Conway’s views on Crusheen. “Senator Conway mentioned Crusheen where the rail station is not being used. He made the point that since it is there, it would be very easy to go to the next stage and open it and have a rail stop there. We should do a little bit of thinking like that. Again on the rail service, the Minister and I spoke about the bridge over the Corrib where the old Clifden line was. Would it not be wonderful to have a train service going out to Clifden and the number of tourists it would bring? It would be a rail service that would join Clifden and Westport.
“I know that I am going way beyond where the plan is but it was done a couple of hundred years ago with the British. We had trains going all over this country and then we ripped them all out. Now thankfully someone with vision is putting back in as many as we can. I would love to see the Minister grow that and I support him in any way possible in his vision for that”.
