Eamon Ryan rules out return of West Cork rail service

Better bus routes are a more realistic prospect for linking West Cork to the city centre, says transport minister

A train crossing the Chetwynd viaduct outside Cork City in March 1961. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive/Ref 657L

A rail link from Cork City to West Cork has been ruled out as a viable transport link in the future, with Transport Minister Eamon Ryan instead insisting a focus on bus routes is a more viable answer to the region's public transport needs.

The possibility of resurrecting the old rail lines from Bantry to Cork has been raised in recent years, albeit seen as ambitious to the point of being realistically unachievable.