WITH the Department of Infrastructure now considering the submissions to the All-Island Rail Review Strategy, campaigners have been making the case for the return of the railways to Fermanagh.
As reported in last week’s Herald, the deadline for submissions to the public consultation to the review was last Friday, and locals were strongly encouraged by lobby group Into the West to have their voices heard.
For the past number of years Into the West have been working hard to show the benefits railways would have in opening up the north-west of the island, and the group made a strong case to the Department’s consultation.
Below, chairman Steve Bradley outlines the group’s demands, and what the return of the railways could mean for the people of the county.
‘It’s time to return the rail to Fermanagh’
At the turn of the last century Fermanagh had a railway network that linked it to all neighbouring counties and beyond. That had all changed by 1958, however, when the last train rolled out of the county – leaving people to assume they were gone for good.
Since then two whole generations have been born and raised in a Fermanagh where rail exists only in a museum above a barbers shop. Cut off from the transport arteries that are the life blood of economics, tourism and social life on this island, Fermanagh and the western half of Northern Ireland have been marginalised ever since – resulting in economic under-performance, and a difficulty attracting investment and retaining our young.
The good news is that an opportunity has now arisen to undo those mistakes of the past. Rail is having a major renaissance across Europe, with the EU even declaring 2021 as its ‘Year of Rail’.
In Ireland – an island with one of the highest car-dependency rates in Europe – rail is no longer being viewed as an outdated relic. It is instead increasingly seen as a key part of this island’s transport future – with an essential contribution to make in tackling climate change, road congestion and rebalancing population and economic activity away from Belfast and Dublin.
The Republic in particular has reflected this change of attitude in its new ‘Project Ireland 2040’ National Development Plan, which makes Sustainable Mobility a key national objective.
Whilst Northern Ireland is often slow at responding to winds of change, even here there has been a palpable shift in public and political attitudes towards rail. And now the first ever All-Island Rail Strategy is being developed to map out a new role and future for rail north and south.
The All-Island Rail Review Strategy was jointly announced last year by NI Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon and southern Transport Minister Eamon Ryan. The strategy will look at ways to improve the rail network across the whole island, with a particular focus upon “better connections to the North-West”.
The Review is due to be completed and published by Summer 2022 – and as part of that process a public consultation was begun to secure views on how and where the network should be improved.
‘Into The West’ is the campaign group for rail in counties Fermanagh, Tyrone, Donegal and Derry.
It was established in 2004 to successfully oppose Stormont’s then-plan to shut the existing Belfast to Derry rail line west of Coleraine. That proposal would have removed the last remaining piece of rail infrastructure anywhere in West Ulster, and denied Derry (NI’s second city and the fourth biggest on the island) access to rail.
Crucially – it would also have left Fermanagh stranded even further from the island’s remaining rail network, and made the return of trains here much less likely. Having won the battle to save that crucial rail line – followed then by a successful campaign to secure a new rail station in Derry city – Into The West has spent the last few years campaigning for seven major improvements that would revolutionise transport across the West of Ulster.
We have been making the case for reopening a number of rail lines (including Fermanagh) to transport ministers north and south, MPs, MLAs, Councils and TDs, Chambers of Commerce and ordinary members of the public. And we’ve witnessed a fundamental shift in public opinion on this topic in recent years.
The absence of even basic infrastructure in counties like Fermanagh is no longer being tolerated, and people are being increasingly outspoken in calling for change. The West is awake!
Where once the idea of bringing rail back to Enniskillen or Omagh was dismissed as fantasy, it is now considered essential by many people across the west of Northern Ireland.
The seven key improvements that Into The West are encouraging people from Fermanagh to demand when responding to the Rail Review consultation are :
SEVEN RAIL REQUESTS
1) Reopen the Derry-Portadown rail line.
(Through Strabane, Omagh and Dungannon. Would enable rail to return to Fermanagh via Omagh).
2) Reconnect Enniskillen to the rail network.
(From Omagh through Irvinestown to Enniskillen, and then south to Sligo)
3) Connect NI’s 3 airports to the rail network, plus Knock Airport in the South.
(Would provide rail access to 4 different airports from Fermanagh)
4) Reopen the Derry-Letterkenny rail route.
(Returning rail to Donegal’s largest town).
5) Introduce faster and more frequent trains between Derry and Belfast
(Including departures every half hour, and a 90min express service).
6) Complete the Limerick to Sligo ‘Western Rail Corridor’, & continue it north through Donegal to Derry.
(Would restore a spine of rail through County Donegal, from Bundoran to Letterkenny).
7) Reconnect Limavady to the rail network.
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