Mayo fans face rail disruption

Mayo fans face rail disruption

Anton McNulty

MAYO fans hoping to take the train to Dublin for the National League final next Sunday are likely to face delays and will first have to take a bus to Athlone. The inconvenience arises from train suspensions, which will be in operation for the next three weeks due to signalling upgrades along the Westport to Athlone line.
The €30 million re-signalling of the route will see the signalling system upgraded from mechanical semaphore signalling to a modern computerised system using colour light signals. Work began on Monday last and it is expected the line will be operating normally again on May 5.
Due to commuters having to be bused to Athlone, Irish Rail have asked people to get to their respective station half an hour before the normal train times. Mayo fans who choose to take the train will now leave Westport and Ballina by bus at 7.15am and 7.05am, respectively, and will arrive in Athlone for the connecting train at 9.40am. There will also be delays on the return journey with passengers for Westport scheduled to get in at 10.21pm and to Ballina at 10.26pm.
An Irish Rail spokesperson told The Mayo News that the upgrading of the signalling system was a continuous process and they had no alternative but to suspend the train service during work on the line.
“Next Sunday we hope to be running a number of buses to connect with the train in Athlone. We have not the final detail of that yet but we hope it will be on the website by Wednesday. They will then be able to catch the train from Athlone to Dublin because it is only from Athlone down that the upgrades are taking place. The buses will be leaving the stations an half an hour before the normal train times because the buses are that bit slower,” said the spokesperson.
The upgrading of the signalling system along with the platform lengthening is the final phase of the renewal of the Westport to Dublin line by Irish Rail which will next year see the introduction of additional train services.