21st Century Railways

All Episodes 2012
TV-G

  • Ended
  • #<Network:0x00007f27ec068d60>
  • 2012-11-12T21:30:00Z
  • 25m
  • 1h 15m (3 episodes)
  • Ireland
  • Documentary, Special Interest
Railways in Ireland have been around for almost 180 years. When they first arrived they brought Ireland to the forefront of cutting edge technological change. The railways took over from canals as the new means of mass transportation of people and goods. Having once enjoyed a Golden Age, railways were to enter a long period of decline - but today their revival is being championed once again. The early years of the New Millennium witnessed the greatest investment in the Irish rail network since railways first came to Ireland. A sort of renaissance has taken place right across the network and, despite the current recession, is set to continue albeit slowly into the future..bringing the railways out of decades of neglect and into line with 21st Century expectations. Towards the end of the last Century. an exception to decades of rail neglect was the Dart... The arrival of the Dart in 1984 so happened to be exactly 150 years after the launch of Ireland's first Railway - The Dublin to Kingstown (Dunlaoire) - and like the Dart today proved a great success....the Dart travels along the same route that Ireland's first rail commuters used... After the success of Ireland's first Railway - rail mania gripped the nation and Investors decided that rail services should extend to the far reaches of the country, first north and then west of Dublin...Kingsbridge (Now Heuston Station) was built with ambition of extending railways to the entire south and west of the country....The Golden Age of the railway had begun and railways became an integral part of everyday life ultimately surviving famine, two world wars and Civil war. But the 1st and 2nd World Wars also brought the development of the combustion engine... the motor car became the preferred mode of transport across Europe... Also the Irish Civil War destroyed much of the railway network. The golden age of the railway in Ireland was coming to an end and the new revolution in transport - the motorcar - took

3 episodes

Series Premiere

2012-11-12T21:30:00Z

1x01 Episode One

Series Premiere

1x01 Episode One

  • 2012-11-12T21:30:00Z25m

The birth of the railways in Ireland and how they took over from canals as the new means of mass transportation of people and goods and played a major part in connecting the cities and remote towns right across the country. Thus bringing Ireland to the forefront of cutting edge technological change.

2012-11-19T21:30:00Z

1x02 Episode Two

1x02 Episode Two

  • 2012-11-19T21:30:00Z25m

Having once enjoyed a Golden Age, railways were to enter a long period of decline - but today their revival is being championed once again. What factors led to the recent transformation paralleled with relevant historical references in respect of the growth and decline of railways in Ireland from the 1830s.

2012-11-26T21:30:00Z

1x03 Episode Three

1x03 Episode Three

  • 2012-11-26T21:30:00Z25m

The future of rail travel in Ireland looking at some of the major projects currently ‘on hold’ due to recession and how railways can potentially assist in balanced regional development as they face into the toughest competition they ever faced from their old historical enemy – the motor car.

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