A section of the Dublin-Sligo rail line between Mullingar and Longford will be effectively closed from this Friday for three months while track improvement work takes place.
Passengers will be bussed between the two towns. To make up for the expected delay, services from the north-west and midlands will depart some 20 minutes earlier than the present scheduled time. Iarnrod Eireann said this would ensure that all trains arrive on time at Dublin's Connolly Station. Weekend travellers will largely be unaffected because trains operating on Friday and Sunday evenings will run as normal. All trains will leave Connolly Station at the usual times.
There have been concerns about the standard of the Sligo-Dublin line over many years, with passengers complaining of overcrowding and regular delays. While the line was not among three identified in a report by International Risk Management Services earlier this year as "posing unacceptable risks to regular passengers", concerns have been expressed about safety because of the deteriorating standard of the track.
Mr Greg Mullen, Iarnrod Eireann's business development executive in Sligo, said a total of u6.5 £6.5 million would be spent on 15.5 miles of new track between Longford and Mullingar. This is part of a u29.5 £29.5 million investment on the line co-funded by the EU and the Exchequer.
The work involves replacing jointed rails and wooden sleepers with continuous welded rails and concrete sleepers. Mr Mullen said passengers could expect a more comfortable and less noisy journey on this section of track when work is completed in mid-July. "The clickety-clack will be done away it, and will be replaced with a nice whoosh sound," he said.
A three-and-a-half-mile stretch of the line between Sligo and Boyle has already been upgraded and work is also to be carried out on the line between Mullingar and Dublin. Work will begin next year on the section of line between Longford and Carrick-on-Shannon.
Mr Mullen said practically all of the line would be upgraded by 2001. It is not expected that the current journey time of three hours and 15 minutes will be reduced before then. "It may be another two to three years before we reach our ultimate goal of two hours and 45 minutes," Mr Mullen said.
A number of private bus companies will carry passengers between Longford and Mullingar and Mr Mullen said he did not anticipate any problems. The buses will be waiting at the station before passengers arrive.
The commencement of work on the track has been welcomed by Sligo Chamber of Commerce, which has been campaigning over a number of years for the line to be improved.
"We see this as a wonderful opportunity because for a long time there were grave concerns about the future of the line. Now its future has been guaranteed," Mr Jim Lawlor, a spokesman for the infrastructure committee of Sligo Chamber, said. Last summer representatives of the chambers of commerce from all the main towns on the line made a presentation to the joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport on the importance of the service.
"If you talk to any industrialist the first thing they ask is about infrastructure. In order for the regions to develop you need the infrastructure, then we can compete for industry," Mr Lawlor said.
According to Iarnrod Eireann, about half a million passengers use the Sligo-Dublin line every year. Since 1990 passenger numbers have increased by 33 per cent. Mr Lawlor said the chamber estimated that if these new customers were lost to the railway, it could mean an additional 54,000 car movements in and out of Dublin.
He said it was also argued to the Oireachtas committee that if the £200 million worth of urban renewal development currently taking place in Sligo were to be viable, people would have to be attracted into the town from a 50-mile radius, and the train was therefore vital.