No Way to Run a Railroad: The Decline of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland after Partition

Murray, C

doi:10.1017/9781009797733.015

No Way to Run a Railroad: The Decline of the Great Northern Railway of Ireland after Partition

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Colin Murray ORCiD

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Abstract

Partition brought with it severe challenges for the operation of railways in Ireland and in its aftermath the cross-border network declined. This paper explores the challenges of running cross-border railways against a backdrop of the profound lack of cooperation between the administrations in Dublin and Belfast after partition. Even when both administrations grudgingly recognised that they had to cooperate to make even the Dublin/Belfast route viable, this effort towards partnership was stymied by the complicating factor of Belfast’s relations with London. The railways therefore provide a case study which highlights the challenges of sharing the Island of Ireland after partition, with consequences which run to the present.