Latest Developments
In December 2009, the Minister for Transport stated in a letter that the matter of re-opening Killucan Station is entirely an issue for Irish Rail and he has no involvement in setting their development priorities.
In January 2010, delegates from the action group met with Irish Rail. Irish Rail stated that they are not against a station but have no subvention funding at present. Irish Rail asked for clarification from Westmeath County Council around planning and the potential for shuttle bus links - the action group shall request a meeting with the county Council to clarify their position.
The action group are intending to engage in awareness raising activities around St Patrick’s Day 2010 and the Annual Killucan Vintage Rally.
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Next Meeting
PUBLIC MEETING
Cunningham's Pub (beside Killucan Train Station) on Mon 15th November 2010 at 8:00pm.
All are welcome to come along.
RTÉ News
On Tuesday 26th August 2008, RTÉ News did a 2 minute report on the Killucan Station campaign. Download the video report here, viewers will need to have Real Player installed.
The Campaign Song
You can download the campaign song here
Lyrics by Martin Plunkett & Denis Leonard, melody & vocals by Seán Coffey and produced by Noel Cox
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Location
Killucan train station is located on the Dublin-Sligo rail line, 36km west of Enfield and 15km east of Mullingar.
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Campaign Rationale
- The 2008 Pearse and Tara Street station timetables already have Killucan listed as a scheduled stop on some services.
- There is a potentially large customer base - Killucan & Rathwire (population 1,300) is 1.5km to the north and kinnegad (population 2,500) is 7km to the east and there is a large catchment area, including east Mullingar, The Downs, Ballivor and Rochfortbridge.
- The old station infrastructure is already in place, including platform and signal box. It has been estimated that an unmanned facility could be implemented with a low capital cost (as little as €1m).
- The station is located at a loop point in the line; this section of double tracks is used to allow oncoming trains to pass each other. It has been observed by locals that about a third of all passenger services stop there already. Adding Killucan as an additional scheduled stop will have a minimal impact on existing customers and timetables.
- Iarnród Éireann owns a significant amount of land around the station - the installation of a Park & Ride facility could be achieved without land procurement and with virtually no impact on existing customers during the upgrade.
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