Expansion and Competition
The Irish South Eastern Railway opened between the GS&WR station at Carlow and Bagenalstown in 1848 and reached Lavistown in 1850. From the outset the ISE was worked by the GS&WR. The Waterford and Kilkenny Railway had already reached Lavistown, and thus completion of the ISE enabled GS&WR services to reach Kilkenny. The W&KR reached Waterford in September 1854 but its relations with the GS&WR were poor, which impeded traffic between Dublin and Waterford by this route. In 1877 the W&KR took over the Central Ireland Railway and became the Waterford and Central Ireland Railway. The GS&WR took over the W&CIR in 1900, thus belatedly bringing the rail route between Dublin and Waterford under the control and operation of a single company.
The GS&WR competed with the Midland Great Western Railway for many years. Both ran services between Dublin and the west of Ireland: the GS&WR running southwest to Limerick, Cork and Waterford, and the MGWR running west to Galway, Westport, Ballina, and Sligo. The GS&WR also had designs on rail traffic to the west of Ireland. In 1859 the GS&WR opened a branch line from the Dublin – Cork main line to Athlone where it connected with the MGWR's Dublin – Galway main line. In the latter half of the 20th century Córas Iompair Éireann made this GS&WR branch part of its Dublin – Galway main line.
Read more about this topic: Great Southern And Western Railway
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