WHILE the final bill for all the recommendations in this week’s historic All-Island Strategic Rail Review could reach an eye-watering £30 billion, the available evidence suggests that failing to proceed would prove much more expensive in the long term.
The climate crisis means that, if we are to prevent disaster for our entire planet, including Ireland, north and south, our transport strategies must change as a matter of the utmost urgency.
A hugely-expanded rail network is at the heart of the developments which need to follow, and the measures set out in the report represent a massive step forward at every level.
There is effectively no serious option to implementing the review as comprehensively as possible, and detailed research has demonstrated that the obviously enormous costs associated with it would be covered by the wider economic benefits to all sections of our society.
The blueprint was launched in Dundalk on Wednesday by the Irish transport minister, Eamon Ryan, and his counterpart at Stormont’s infrastructure department, John O’Dowd, with both politicians and their senior staff deserving full credit for their commitment to a project of major importance to all our citizens.
Its proposals cover crucial issues like decarbonisation and accessibility not just to our major cities but also to regional and rural districts, and include building a rail link that would cross central Dublin – potentially via a tunnel – to connect Heuston station, which receives trains from the south of the island, with the northern line that serves Connolly station.
There is a long overdue plan to connect Dublin, Shannon and Belfast International airports to the rail network, which would enable intercity services to directly access the island’s biggest airport, while reinstating the Lisburn to Antrim line would allow Belfast International to be served by a rail link.
Among the other provisions are a track linking Portadown in Co Armagh with Mullingar in Co Westmeath, which would pass through Armagh and Cavan, a connection between Derry and Portadown, bringing the towns of Strabane, Omagh and Dungannon into the network, and new direct lines between Lisburn and Newry, and between Letterkenny in Co Donegal and Derry city.
It all represents change on a transformational scale, and the indications are that the necessary funding is going to be available from the administrations in Dublin and Belfast.
There will be hopes that the initiative might ultimately be extended to bring further districts across Ireland into the expanded rail network, and what all this comes down to is a sustainable vision for the future which should be embraced with enthusiasm by all those in positions of authority.
