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The Great Southern Railways Company (often Great Southern Railways, or GSR) was an Irish
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
 company that from 1925 until 1945 owned and operated all railways that lay wholly within the Irish Free State
Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
 (the present-day Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
).

ision for the creation of the company was made by the Railways Act 1924, which mandated the amalgamation (in the case of the 4 major railway companies) and absorption (of the 22 smaller companies) of all railways wholly within the Irish Free State
Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
.






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The Great Southern Railways Company (often Great Southern Railways, or GSR) was an Irish
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
 company that from 1925 until 1945 owned and operated all railways that lay wholly within the Irish Free State
Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
 (the present-day Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
).

History


Formation

Provision for the creation of the company was made by the Railways Act 1924, which mandated the amalgamation (in the case of the 4 major railway companies) and absorption (of the 22 smaller companies) of all railways wholly within the Irish Free State
Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand....
. Only cross-border railways, most notably the Great Northern Railway (Ireland)
Great Northern Railway (Ireland)

The Great Northern Railway was an Ireland railway company formed in 1876 by a merger of the Irish North Western Railway , Northern Railway of Ireland, and Ulster Railway....
, remained outside its control.

The Great Southern and Western Railway
Great Southern and Western Railway

The Great Southern and Western Railway was one of the main railway operations in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company was the largest of Ireland's "Big Four" railway operators, buying up smaller operations and expanding its route mileage for much of its existence....
 Company, the Midland Great Western Railway
Midland Great Western Railway

The Midland Great Western Railway main line extended from Broadstone, Dublin in Dublin to the Midlands, and onwards to Galway and Clifden in what is now the Republic of Ireland....
 Company of Ireland and the Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway
Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway

The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway was a major Irish railway. It operated from Cork and served towns along the southern coastal strip to the west....
 Company agreed to terms for amalgamation, forming the Great Southern Railway Company by way of the Railways (Great Southern) Preliminary Amalgamation Scheme of 12 November 1924 (SI no. 31 of that year).

The Great Southern Railways Company was formed when the fourth major company, the Dublin and South Eastern Railway
Dublin and South Eastern Railway

The Dublin and South Eastern Railway was originally incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1846 as the Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow and Dublin Railway Company....
, joined these companies under the Great Southern Railways Amalgamation Scheme of 1 January 1925 (SI no. 1 of that year) and the Great Southern Railways Supplemental Amalgamation Scheme, also 1925.

The smaller companies were absorbed under several successive Statutory Instruments.

Buses and hotels

From 1929, when it acquired a stake in the Irish Omnibus Company, the company also ran bus services. These operations became the responsibility from 1 January 1934 of the Great Southern Railways Omnibus Department. The hotel group formed by the company, Great Southern Hotels, continued to bear the company's name until its privatisation in 2006. Some of the hotels continue to use the Great Southern name as of 2007.

Rosslare

CIÉ
Córas Iompair Éireann

C?ras Iompair ?ireann is a statutory corporation of the Republic of Ireland, answerable to the Irish Government and responsible for the provision of most public transport services in the Republic of Ireland and, jointly with its Northern Ireland counterpart, the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, between the Republic and Northern I...
 maintain a . This is not entirely accurate, as it includes the Fishguard and Rosslare Railways & Harbours Company which still exists today, although GSR took over 50% of its shares upon its creation, the other 50% being held by the UK Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a History of rail transport in Great Britain that linked London with the south west and west of England and most of Wales....
. The respective shareholdings in the company, now essentially a shelf company, are held today by Iarnrod Éireann
Iarnród Éireann

Iarnr?d ?ireann is the national railway system operator of Republic of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of C?ras Iompair ?ireann ....
 and Stena Line
Stena Line

Stena Line is one of the world's largest ferry operators, with ferry services serving Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, England, Wales, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands and Poland....
.

Transfer to CIÉ

The dissolved the Company and transferred its assets, together with those of the Dublin United Transport Company
Dublin United Transport Company

The Dublin United Transport Company operated trams and buses in Dublin, Ireland until 1945. Following legislation in the Oireachtas , the DUTC and the Great Southern Railways were vested in the newly-formed Coras Iompair ?ireann in 1945....
 to Coras Iompair Éireann
Córas Iompair Éireann

C?ras Iompair ?ireann is a statutory corporation of the Republic of Ireland, answerable to the Irish Government and responsible for the provision of most public transport services in the Republic of Ireland and, jointly with its Northern Ireland counterpart, the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, between the Republic and Northern I...
, from 1 January 1945.

See also

  • History of rail transport in Ireland
    History of rail transport in Ireland

    The history of rail transport in Ireland began only a decade later than in History of rail transport in Great Britain. By its peak in 1920, Ireland had 5,500 route kilometers....
  • Rail transport in Ireland
    Rail transport in Ireland

    Rail services in Ireland are provided by Iarnr?d ?ireann in the Republic of Ireland and by Northern Ireland Railways in Northern Ireland.The track gauge is Irish gauge....
  • Iarnród Éireann
    Iarnród Éireann

    Iarnr?d ?ireann is the national railway system operator of Republic of Ireland. Established on 2 February 1987, it is a subsidiary of C?ras Iompair ?ireann ....