By Chris Ashmore
A rail link between Sligo and Derry – via Donegal Town and Letterkenny – is feasible but it needs political backing on both sides of the border, a national sustainable transport campaigner and researcher has claimed.
Dublin-based Brian Guckian, who has carried out a study on the proposed route, maintains that the project had a positive benefit-cost ratio.
The report took into account tourism numbers as well as the the impact of a link to Strabane.
It found the rail link would generate environmental savings of at least € 42 million per annum and was strongly beneficial or beneficial on 33 counts taking into account objectives relating to quality of life, sustainable regional development, environment, social inclusion, and the regional and local economy
He also pointed out that the link would have national as well as regional significance because it completed a “Round Ireland” rail route that could be marketed as a unique tourism product.
Mr. Guckian indicated that the project would allow current services from Belfast to Derry to be extended to Letterkenny and Dublin – Sligo InterCity services extended to Donegal.
Allowing for EU funding, a multi-annual investment envelope of €160 million per annum over four years from a re-prioritisation of Transport 21 funds would build the link on the Republic’s side, whilst the NI Assembly would need to commit £30 million per annum over the same period, he contended.
Mr. Guckian said that a Cross-Border Accord by the two governments on the island could be followed by a design and environmental impact assessment process with full public involvement, leading to an application by Iarnrod Eireann for a Railway Order and a Public Enquiry. Construction could take four years and would generate significant employment.
However, given current government policy and the downturn in the economy the chances of the project getting off the ground are very slim.
In the coming weeks, a line from Cobh Junction to Midleton will be re-opened, and later this year services will resume on the Ennis-Athenry section of the Western Rail Corridor. A new line from Dublin to Navan has also got the go-ahead.
A Sligo-Derry line would be well down the pecking order, and unlikely to be built ahead of restoring the old route from Athenry to Claremorris and onto Collooney in Co. Sligo.