The town was connected to the railway network until 1975, as part of the "North Kerry" line, from Limerick city to Tralee, via Rathkeale and Listowel. Newcastle West railway station was on Bishop Street and opened on 1 January 1857. It closed for passenger traffic on 4 February 1963, regular goods traffic on 2 December 1974 and finally closed on 3 November 1975, although occasional passenger special trains, diesel and steam hauled, had operated into the 1970s. The station had an unusual layout, with two turntables and water columns for steam locomotives, the result of the lines from the Rathkeale and Abbeyfeale directions having been built by different companies. After the tracks were lifted in the late 1980s, in 1999, the former station house was restored as a private house within the Bishop Court development of the station area. The Great Southern Trail walking and cycling route follows the line of the railway, passing the site of the demolished twin arch road bridge which spanned the lines to Rathkeale/Limerick and Abbeyfeale/Tralee just before they diverged.