‘Great tourism potential’ if Hill of Down train station reopens

With big changes on the way along the mainline Dublin to Sligo railway, a campaign is underway to persuade Irish Rail to reopen the Hill of Down railway station and to extend the Dart service to Enfield.

Last month An Coimisiún Pleanála granted permission for the extension of the DART+ West network to the M3 Parkway near Dunboyne and to Maynooth, amid predictions the extension would be a major boost for the south Meath area.

Cllr Joe Fox said the reopening of the Hill of Down Station would prove a major benefit to a wide area and that the station, just west of Enfield, had the potential to be a very busy stop.

“It would serve a large area including, Longwood, Ballivor and Kinnegad. There is a wide hinterland of commuter area around the Hill of Down making the stop very viable.

“There is no station between Enfield and Mullingar, so it would definitely be widely used. With the Hill of Down on the Royal Canal Greenway, the railway station would have great tourism potential."

Cllr Fox said that back in 2007, Athlone IT had done a study on the Hill of Down and found that the reopening of the railway station was viable.

"I ensured that one of the objectives in our county development plan is the provision of a park and ride facility at the Hill of Down. It is not pie in the sky. We really just want the train to stop at Hill of Down. The infrastructure is there. It is on the railway line.

“It was a hugely busy station years ago. In its heyday, it was one of the biggest stops for the cattle train from the west. The goods trains and passenger trains were also very busy. Shops and businesses in Longwood, Ballivor and Rathmolyon used to get deliveries there.

“The stop would also serve Edenderry as well as opening up all of south Meath.

“In a time of climate crisis it makes sense to take more cars off the road by providing a stop here for commuters from a wide area. It would take hundreds of cars off the road.

"This is a very simple measure that could easily be done and which would be a huge benefit to sustainable transport."

The Hill of Down station closed to passengers in the 1947, but Cllr Fox said it was occasionally used for excursions up to the 1970s.

"This is something I will be lobbying hard for. It makes sense and would be relatively simple to bring about."

Cllr Fox is also calling on Irish Rail to extend the Dart Plus Project to Enfield. "The Dart West to Maynooth will shortly be going to tender. It makes sense that the next step after that is to extend it to Kilcock and then to Enfield. “This would be another climate friendly measure."

Planning permission for the extension of the DART+ West network to the M3 Parkway near Dunboyne and to Maynooth was granted last month.

The Iarnród Éireann application included new plans for rail capacity enhancements at Connolly Station along with providing a station at Spencer Dock to interchange with the Luas Red Line and a new second station entrance on Preston Street. A proposal has also been made in the application for the building of a new DART depot west of Maynooth train station to maintain the new DART+ fleet but due to flood risks regarding this proposal, An Bord Pleanála have not given permission for this to go ahead.

When it applied for the Railway Order in July 2022, the national railway operator said if the project got the green light that construction would commence in 2024 and the new service could start operating by 2029.

According to Iarnród Eireann the DART+ West project will deliver a more sustainable transport option for a number of communities such as Maynooth, Leixlip and Castleknock.