In 1967, the UTA was split up into road and rail undertakings. Freight traffic had been abolished by the UTA in 1965, apart from cross-border traffic to and from Belfast and Derry, and yet further closures of lines had taken place. No main line diesel locomotives had been acquired at all, and practically all passenger trains were railcar formations. In the North, dieselisation had followed a different pattern. At the end of 1962, following the delivery of more diesel locomotives and with further branch line closures imminent, CIÉ eliminated steam traction for good. CIÉ took over the remaining lines in the Republic, and the UTA took over what was left in the North - only to close over half of it by 1965.īy 1960, main line trains were almost entirely dieselised, leaving steam on secondary duties and freight traffic. The remainder was divided between the two state companies. Meanwhile, in the North, the Ulster Transport Authority (state owned railway and general public transport in Northern Ireland 1949-67) closed almost 80% of the railway system under its control, and introduced diesel railcars to the rest.īoth economic circumstances and political interference had resulted in the closure of most of the Great Northern Railway system in 1957. Following nationalisation of CIÉ (the State transport company in the Republic) in 1950, many unremunerative lines were closed, and others reduced to freight only status. Large investment was made in diesel locomotives and railcars and new carriages in the Republic, with Inchicore (the main CIÉ works) working at full capacity for many years. Tyrone was to remain horse-worked until its closure in 1957!īetween 19, huge changes took place. By the late 1940s, Ireland still had an extensive railway system which was almost entirely steam operated, and indeed, one short branch line in Co. In 1925, all the railway companies whose lines fell wholly on the Southern side of the newly created border (between Northern Ireland and the Republic) were amalgamated as the Great Southern Railways. The main lines between Dublin and Cork, Belfast, and Belfast - Derry received a fair amount of investment over the years, and locomotives, carriages and services were as good as anywhere in Europe, but rural and western lines received little new investment especially during the lean years of the 1920s - 1930s. Armagh was closed after only 10 years open to traffic, and by the early 1930s a number of rural lines had followed into oblivion, mostly in the south and west. In 1923, the Keady - Castleblayney line in Co. In the north west, County Donegal was almost entirely served by two large narrow gauge systems totalling some 300km. While most of the system was 1,600mm gauge, some lines mostly in rural areas were narrow gauge - 914mm gauge. In 1920, both the route length (3,442 miles, 5,540km ) and the traffic levels carried were at their peak, but competition from road traffic began to make inroads into railway traffic from the 1920s. Irish railways were built between 1834, when the Dublin to Dun Laoghaire line opened, and the early years of the 20 th century. Some lines, particularly on the NIR system, carry no freight at all. Most of the system carries passengers predominantly, and freight traffic is light by international standards. Irish Rail (Iarnród Éireann), the state railway system in the Republic has 1,944km, and in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Railways operates another 357km. Ireland now has some 2,300km of public railways, all 1,600mm (5'3") gauge (the distance between the rails).
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