Anyone who has sat on a train outside Ceannt Station waiting for another one to pass will know the problem. Now a Galway TD is demanding that the single-track bottleneck between Galway and Athenry be fixed without waiting for a much bigger national upgrade, as the city also learned it faces a long wait for its flagship BusConnects corridor on the Dublin Road.
The Lough Atalia squeeze
Fianna Fáil TD John Connolly raised the rail issue at the Oireachtas Transport Committee this week. At present, trains leaving Ceannt Station often have to wait at Lough Atalia for incoming services, because the line narrows to a single track after the Lough Atalia bridge.
Irish Rail is currently assessing capacity on the wider corridor between Athenry and Portarlington. Mr Connolly argued that the Galway to Athenry stretch should be split from that wider scheme and progressed on its own, so that work to double the line into the city can start straight away.
He said improvements already planned at Galway and Oranmore stations would deliver only limited benefits for as long as trains are running on a single line, and said doubling the track between Galway and Athenry needed to happen in the shortest possible timeframe, according to Galway Bay FM.
Why the pressure is building
The TD pointed to several pressures arriving at once. The Galway to Dublin intercity service and commuter trains to Athenry are already busy. New carriages are due for the Limerick line, and more services are expected once the Western Rail Corridor opens, which would bring yet more trains onto the same short stretch of single track east of the city.
No cost estimate or timeline for doubling the line was given in the report, and Irish Rail’s response was not reported.
BusConnects on the Dublin Road: not until 2029
Separately, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has confirmed that a major BusConnects scheme on the Dublin Road in Galway city has been approved, but that construction is not scheduled to begin until the start of 2029, with completion due by the middle of 2031.
The confirmation came in reply to a parliamentary question from Mr Connolly. The NTA said funding is expected to be included in its Integrated Implementation Plan, due to be published before the end of this year.
The scheme is expected to improve road safety on one of the city’s main arteries, with better pedestrian and cycling facilities and improved access at the entrance and exit to Merlin Park hospital. Mr Connolly has urged the city council, the NTA and the Minister for Transport to bring the start date forward, arguing that construction is often the shortest phase of such projects and that it could be shortened further. He also warned of the risk of disruption once works begin.
A city waiting on transport
The two announcements land in a week when Galway’s transport gaps were again in the spotlight. Galway Bay FM also reported that Loughrea is the county town furthest from public transport stops in Galway, underlining the challenge facing commuters outside the city as well as within it.
For a fast-growing city, the gap between plan and delivery remains the sore point. BusConnects Galway has been on the drawing board for years, and the double-tracking of the Athenry line has long been seen locally as essential to any serious increase in commuter rail.
What happens next
The key date to watch is the publication of the NTA’s Integrated Implementation Plan, expected before the end of 2026, which should confirm funding for the Dublin Road corridor. On rail, Irish Rail’s assessment of the Athenry to Portarlington corridor continues, and pressure is likely to grow from local representatives for the Galway to Athenry section to be treated as a standalone priority. We will report any response from Irish Rail or the Department of Transport.
Sources
- Galway Bay FM: Call for works on Galway to Athenry train line to be separate from wider capacity scheme (28-30 October 2026)
- Galway Bay FM: Construction of BusConnects scheme on Dublin Road to start by 2029 (28 October 2026)
- Galway Bay FM news desk: Loughrea furthest from public transport stops in Galway (headline) (29 October 2026)
Featured image: GALWAY RAILWAY AND BUS STATION IRELAND JULY 2013 (9197629895) by calflier001, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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