Athlone railway station serves the town of Athlone in County Roscommon

County Roscommon

County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...

 and County Westmeath

County Westmeath

-Economy:Westmeath has a strong agricultural economy. Initially, development occurred around the major market centres of Mullingar, Moate, and Kinnegad. Athlone developed due to its military significance, and its strategic location on the main Dublin–Galway route across the River Shannon. Mullingar...

. The station is at the junction between the railway lines between Dublin-Galway

Galway

Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...

 and Dublin-Westport

Westport, County Mayo

Westport is a town in County Mayo, Ireland. It is situated on the west coast at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean....

. There was a railway line to Mullingar

Mullingar

Mullingar is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act of 1542, proclaimed Westmeath a county, separating it from Meath. Mullingar became the administrative centre for County Westmeath...

 but it is now disused. There are three platforms, of which Numbers 2 and 3 are an island platform

Island platform

An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...

.

The station opened on 3 October 1859.
In 1851, the first public train stopped at the Midland Great Western Railway Station, which was located on the west side of the Shannon. The Great Southern and Western Railway Station on the east side of the river (now Athlone Railway Station) was completed in 1859. For many years the two railway stations operated independently but merged in 1925. After this merger, the Great Southern and Western Railway Station became a goods station while the other station enjoyed the monopoly of all the passenger traffic. The Midland Great Western Railway Station closed in 1985, when Athlone Railway Station was transferred to the newly renovated station, where it is located today.