Report calls for reopening of Western Rail Corridor

The Western Rail Corridor which runs from Ennis to Sligo should be re-opened on a phased basis, a report recommended today.

The Working Group on the Western Rail Corridor said the most viable section of the 114-mile railway was the 51-mile railway section from Ennis in Co Clare to Athenry and Tuam in Co Galway.

It would cost around €110m to re-open, as opposed to €365m for the project as a whole.

“It would create a rail link between the four largest cities outside Dublin; Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Cork and thus implement a major objective of the National Spatial Strategy,” it said.

At the launch in Castlebar, County Mayo, Transport Minister Martin Cullen said he was committed to re-opening the railway.

“I want to be clear, as the Taoiseach and a number of my Government colleagues have been, that the Western Rail Corridor has serious merit and offers serious benefit.”

He added that the report would be sent to the Cabinet which is currently finalising a long term transport investment plan.

The West on Track Group, which has campaigned for the re-opening of the line, said it was optimistic that the decision would be favourable.

“There are 250 people attending this conference from all over the West of Ireland and that in itself has sent a message to the Government. This is not something that people have dreamed up overnight, this is a project which makes sense to the whole community spectrum – tourism, industry and ordinary people,” said a spokesman.

Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon O’Cuiv said the working group’s report was a very positive step forward.

“I am firmly convinced that this train is ready to leave the station,” he said.

The working group on the Western Rail Corridor was set up by former Transport Minister Seamus Brennan in response to a sustained lobbying campaign by the West on Track group.

The group was chaired by Jurys Doyle Hotel chief executive Pat McCann and included representatives from the Department of Transport, Iarnród Éireann, local authorities, and the Railway Procurement Agency.

While examining other sections of the Western Rail Corridor, it found the 17-mile line from Tuam to Claremorris in Co Mayo would cost almost €59m, rising to around €197m for the 46-mile line from Claremorris to Collooney in Sligo.

The report said the high cost of restoring the Claremorris to Collooney line was because it had been constructed as a light railway in 1891 and would need to be upgraded to a national heavy rail standard. There would also be a need to alter more than 200 level crossings, including two which would cost €24m alone.

“Expenditure of this order would be very difficult to justify and the case for its restoration, as things stand, is weak except on the grounds of balanced regional development,” the report said.