[Article] Local groups demand railway revolution

Navan Junction

17 September 2006 By Ken Griffin
Sunday Business Post

It has been almost 20 years since the last passenger trains passed through Moate, Co Westmeath, but local publican William Allen is confident they will soon return.

Allen is chairman of the Midland Railway Action Group, which is campaigning for the re-opening of the Mullingar-to-Athlone railway. He is hopeful about its prospects for success after several meetings with the Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, which were organised by former minister and potential general election candidate Mary O’Rourke.

‘‘At our most recent meeting, the minister was impressed by our submission and agreed to examine it over the next four to six months,’’ Allen said. ‘‘It’s not part of Transport 21 [the government’s €34 billion transport plan] but, as the minister said to us: ‘Everything’s not in and everything’s not out.’ He opened the door slightly for us.”

Things look less positive for Meath On Track, which is campaigning for the re-opening of that county’s closed railways.

According to its public relations officer, Proinsias Mac Fhearghusa, the group’s only encounter with Cullen was at a stormy public meeting in January.

‘‘There was a slight altercation between the minister and the public during which he told us: ‘You can’t just demand a railway,’” said Mac Fhearghusa.

He said the difference in the minister’s attitude towards the Westmeath and the Meath campaigners could be explained easily.

‘‘It’s down to the constituencies.

“The government is confident of the return of two Fianna Fail TDs in Meath West and Meath East so they don’t feel threatened,” he said.

As a result, the group hopes to make rail re-opening into a major political issue in Meath in the run-up to the general election. Its plans are mirrored by similar rail campaign groups across the country.

They hope that next year’s general election will be the first where rail transport is a significant campaign issue as they seek to highlight the role of politics in Irish rail transport. The decision to open or close railway lines rests with Martin Cullen.

The re-opening of a railway is thus perceived as a political decision, something that was recognised as early as the 1970s when councillors in the west of Ireland formed the Western Intercounty Railway Committee to campaign for the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor (WRC).

That campaign was seen as fitful and based on electoral considerations and was also reluctant to criticise the government.

Since the last election, however, businessmen and commuters have emerged as the driving forces behind the railway re-opening campaigns.

The latest WRC campaign, West On Track, which was founded in 2003, plans to launch an aggressive political campaign.

‘‘We think it’s unacceptable that there was no time-frame given for the re-opening of the Sligo section of the railway in Transport 21,” said a spokesman for the group.

In an bid to counter such campaigns, the government has attempted to win the support of local transport activists.

In July, a report from the Midland Railway Action Group was received in person by Cullen.

Cullen also has regular meetings with South East On Track, a group headed by Fianna Fail candidate Sean Connick.

It is campaigning for the re-opening of the New Ross line. Meanwhile, construction work on the WRC looks set to start this year.

In Meath, government candidates are expected to play up Transport 21’s promise to deliver the Navan to Clonsilla railway line by 2015, despite increasing anger from local campaigners.

‘‘At this stage, it’s wheeled out every election and then it’s delayed,” said Mac Fhearghusa.

After the last election, the hopes of Meath’s rail campaigners were dashed when local TD and then minister for the environment Noel Dempsey allowed Meath County Council to lay a sewerage scheme along the Clonsilla line. Relocating the sewer is now a major obstacle to the reopening of the line.

Meath On Track is also angry that the existing freight railway between Navan and Drogheda has not been converted for passenger use.

‘‘This is the temporary solution to the commuting problems of Meath,” said Mac Fhearghusa.

‘‘At the moment, it takes two-and-a-half hours to drive to Dublin in the morning; you could do it in 65minutes on the Navan to Drogheda line. It would have a huge benefit for people’s lives.”

However, a spokesman for Irish Rail said it would be unsustainable to spend €70 mill ion to €100 million on upgrading the line as the Clonsilla line was contained in Transport 21.

Although Meath On Track claims that its campaigns have been hindered by a lack of government support, West On Track plays down claims that its success has been due to political lobbying. It is particularly angry about media claims that just 750 passengers a day would use the WRC.

‘‘We have made our case successfully based on the facts that the west is the second fastest growing area of the country outside Dublin and that the line will link the third and fourth largest cities in the country,” said a spokesman.

The West On Track spokesman said the success of the Limerick to Ennis line showed how well the WRC would do.

Closed in the 1970s, the Ennis line, which was reopened in 1983, now carries 150,000 passengers a year.

An Irish Rail spokesman said the services on the WRC would be operated by commuter railcars rather than Intercity trains. In fact, the only line being campaigned for which could see the use of Intercity carriages is the Athlone-to-Mullingar line, which was once part of the main line to Galway.

While local campaigners have focused on the line’s potential as a commuter route, some believe it could cut half an hour from rail journeys between Galway and Dublin.

Although the 2003 strategic rail review found that restoring the line would cost €154 million, this estimate has since been cut to €84million.

‘‘It could be restored as a high-speed line. The track has excellent foundations. It would bring speedier access to the city,” said Allen. The difficulty that all the groups face is demonstrating that the lines will be viable.

The physical presence of a railway line is no guarantee it will be used. For instance, the Limerick to Waterford line was almost shut in 2002 due to low passenger numbers and today just six services a day use the line.

strassenwolf

Sunday Business Post wrote:

It has been almost 20 years since the last passenger trains passed through Moate, Co Westmeath, but local publican William Allen is confident they will soon return.

Allen is chairman of the Midland Railway Action Group, which is campaigning for the re-opening of the Mullingar-to-Athlone railway. He is hopeful about its prospects for success after several meetings with the Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, which were organised by former minister and potential general election candidate Mary O’Rourke.

‘‘At our most recent meeting, the minister was impressed by our submission and agreed to examine it over the next four to six months,’’ Allen said. ‘‘It’s not part of Transport 21 [the government’s €34 billion transport plan] but, as the minister said to us: ‘Everything’s not in and everything’s not out.’ He opened the door slightly for us.”

"Everything's not in and everything's not out".

Uh-oh.

If they don't know which projects are in or out, how precisely was the figure of 34.3 billion euro (according to the T21 website) arrived at?

BrianD

Does the local publican have any vested interests? Any land banks that could be a dormitory town for commuters if the rail line was there?

westtip

Navan Junction wrote:

17 September 2006 By Ken Griffin
Sunday Business Post

The latest WRC campaign, West On Track, which was founded in 2003, plans to launch an aggressive political campaign.

‘‘We think it’s unacceptable that there was no time-frame given for the re-opening of the Sligo section of the railway in Transport 21,” said a spokesman for the group.

.

The WRC campaign needs to take a reality check, there is simply no chance this project will be completed under T21 objectives, despite the huffing and puffing by the WRC campaign and politicians jumping (or perhaps raillroading -sic) on this campaign. The report from the Expert Working Group on the WRC available on T21 website http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/6645-0.pdf says it all really, and anyone who doesn't read between the lines is very very naive

The report says the WRC can be divided into four sections: Ennis to Ahenry, Athenry to Tuam, Tuam to Claremorris and Claremorris to Collooney.

The last section Claremorris to Collooney has been estimated as the most expensive part of the line to restore - it was built as a light railway and there are 290 level crossing on it. The estimated (May 2005) costs to restore this section would be nearly €200 at 4.3 million per mile. the other three sections would cost about as much as this section combined at a cost of 75 million, 35 million and 59 million. We all know what usually happens to estimated costs on infrastructure projects - they go in one direction only.

There is simply no national nor regional for that matter justification to spend 200 million on the rail line from Collooney to Claremorris - in particular as the road links between these two towns will be significantly improved by the N18 upgrade as part of the Atlantic Corridor.

If the politicians and lobbyists think this is going to happen on this section of railway line they are living in cloud cuckoo land.

The report mentioned above in Section 5 says it all:

Firstly it states the line should be cleared and fenced off - this will cost very little and make the lobbyist think they are getting somewhere.

Second - (and the report was written in 2005), it says the viability of restoring this section of line should be reviewed in 2008 (ie well after any general election). There will only be one answer then - this line is not viable and the money could be better spent elsewhere. In the North West I would suggest on the regional road infrastructure. eg the N59 Ballina sligo road for one.

If anyone can make a reasoned (ie not emotive) case for the opening of this section of Railway line then I would love to hear it, the only reason WRC gets so much airspace is because of the well organised lobbying of West on Track, their energies would be better spent on much more worthwhile projects for the west of ireland - of which there are many.

dowlingm

apparently clearance work has begun on Claremorris - Collooney.

Clean-up of closed railway 'no cheap electoral stunt'

A €5M clean-up of the northern section of the Western Rail Corridor is not a political stunt, it was insisted yesterday .

Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Minister Eamon O Cuiv was launching site clearance works on the 46-mile stretch of the Sligo/Limerick rail corridor between Collooney, Co Sligo and Claremorris, Co Mayo.

No date has yet been fixed for the reopening of this section of the line, which has been closed to passengers since 1963.

"It is absolutely essential that the right of way be protected," he said. Anyone who saw the clean-up as a "political stunt" did not understand the matter.

Speaking at the former railway station in Tubbercurry, Co Sligo, he said the reopening of this section of the line, while not included in Transport 21, would be included in the Government's next transport plan.

The clearance work will be carried out by Iarnrod Eireann over a year. The track, still in State ownership, will be fenced off, and the works will also include renewal of level crossing gates and mile posts.

The launch was welcomed by Father Micheal Mac Greil, patron of the lobby group West on Track, who has campaigned for 27 years for the reopening.

(c) Irish Independent

What will happen when they hit those driveways and other encroachments?

westtip

It is a complete stunt, just because a few FAS workers clear away the weeds and blackberry bushes doesn't mean to say the Govt has any intention of forking out 200 euro on a line which will carry one man and his dog - it won't happen - just read the report submitted to Cullen available on the T21 website, The section of the report on the Collooney Claremorris section is full of ifs buts and maybes and is couched in language to prepare those supporting it for defeat. It it does happen it is money wasted in the West - there are many many more priorities out here than this mad cap scheme and just because some Sky Pilot in a dog collar wants to see it happen doesn't mean to say it will - the influence of the clergy has long gone - the only influence in this country now is dosh, and this schemes will never stack up as dosh well spent. Forget it...it is never going to be re-opened and for good reason.

nutterireland

they will never open moate station, cie are barley able to run what they have,
its all a ploy for the td's to get votes ....road ,roads roads =toll $$$$$

thats all
the government want ! and eu paying for most off it.

saying that it would be the correct thing to do .but screw doing the correct

thing ....

Chris_533976

Ive said it before and I'll say it again.

Limerick - Galway section is needed (quite badly). The rest isnt. Simple as that.