Great Southern Trail facts for kids

The Great Southern Trail is a greenway rail trail under development in Counties Limerick and Kerry, Ireland. It is intended to be 85 kilometres (53 miles) long when completed and run from Limerick to Tralee. It is an off-road trail intended for use by cyclists and walkers along the route of the Limerick-Tralee line, formerly operated by the Great Southern and Western Railway, which opened between 1867 and 1880 and was closed in 1977. As of 2012, approximately 35 kilometres (22 miles) of the route between Rathkeale and Abbeyfeale had been developed. The developed section of the trail passes through Ardagh, Newcastle West and Barnagh.

The voluntary group Great Southern Trail Ltd has developed the trail for 20 years, at an estimated cost of €1 million (as of 2011). They were awarded a special jury prize by the European Greenways Association at the 2011 European Greenways Awards in recognition of their efforts to develop the greenway between 1991 and 2011.

Development of the trail has run into some difficulties, particularly in keeping the land, which is publicly owned (by CIÉ, the Irish transport authority) and keeping it away from some local landowners and neighbouring houses who fear crime and lack of use for it .

In early 2013, a group of walkers commemorating the 50th anniversary of the last passenger train between Limerick and Tralee, were blocked at the Kerry border by a group of local landowners opposing the continued development of this trail into county Kerry. It has since been established that CIE owns the line and that the landowners have no claim to the trail. CIE is currently in the process of transferring ownership of the line to Kerry County Council for further development of the trail towards Listowel, pending future funding becoming available.