Athlone railway station
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Athlone
Baile Átha Luain  |
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| Location | Southern Station Road, Athlone, County Westmeath, N37 DF24 Republic of Ireland |
| Coordinates | 53°25′38″N 7°56′12″W / 53.42722°N 7.93667°WCoordinates: 53°25′38″N 7°56′12″W / 53.42722°N 7.93667°W |
| Owned by | Iarnród Éireann |
| Operated by | Iarnród Éireann |
| Platforms | 3 |
| Construction | |
| Structure type | At-grade |
| Other information | |
| Station code | ATLNE |
| Fare zone | K |
| History | |
| Opened | 1859 |
Athlone railway station is a station which serves the town of Athlone in County Roscommon and County Westmeath. It is located in the town on the east side of the river Shannon.
The station is an interchange station between the Dublin-Galway and Dublin-Westport rail services. In addition it is located adjacent to the town's bus station.
There are three platforms, of which Numbers 2 and 3 are an island platform.
Athlone has had two Railway stations of varying roles over time. They are on opposite sides of the River Shannon, connected by the White Bridge.
The first of these was built by the Midland Great Western Railway and opened on 1 August 1851. Designed by J.S. Mulvany, it has a long, rather austere façade, in an Italianate style. The two-storey building has a staggering seventeen-bay façade which is broken by four breakfronts. It connected Galway and Dublin via the MGWR mainline, which ran between Dublin Broadstone railway station, Mullingar and Athlone via Moate. Since 1985 it has served as engineering offices and stores for Irish Rail.
The second was opened in 1859 by the Great Southern and Western Railway that reached Galway via a branch of the Cork main line. For many years there was great rivalry between the two railway companies who developed the railway stations in Athlone but this was subsequently solved by arbitration.
In the 1920s this station was designated as the goods station for Athlone and served in that capacity until 1985 when it became the mainline railway station for the town. The design by Wilkinson, It is a simple but elegant Italianate design of five-bays and two storeys. In this case success of the design is in its simplicity and in the decorative features, the entrance with its three arches supported on Doric pillars and the attractive ashlar architraves on the windows all add elegance to this piece of Irish railway architecture.
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