Madam, – Michael Gill (August 28th) refers to the western rail corridor as a “vanity” project and a “line to nowhere”. For Mr Gill this is all written from the comfort of Milltown on Dublin’s southside which has hundreds of bus services, Luas and Dart.
Might I suggest that Mr Gill examine the latest CSO national data on access to basic services. In Dublin, just 6 per cent of people report difficulties in accessing public transport. In the west of Ireland and in other rural areas, the number encountering difficulty accessing public transport is more than 50 per cent.
His disparaging reference to the western rail corridor as a “line to nowhere” echoes Prof Colm McCarthy’s description of it last year as a “toy railway” on RTÉ radio. In fact, the line links three of the largest urban centres on the west coast, Limerick, Galway and Sligo, and will greatly enhance the sustainability of the whole western region. As an existing piece of infrastructure, the line is estimated to be worth €1 billion to this country and when fully operational will certainly save hundreds of millions in environmental taxes and congestion costs.
Any objective analysis of the costings in Transport 21 will show that western rail corridor is a valid and sensible project and is as viable as any other rail project in Ireland. It also represents tremendous value to the taxpayer, the first 50km having just been completed for €70 million or €1.4 million per kilometre.
Mr Gill’s patronising comments together with Prof McCarthy’s Bord Snip report, which specifically targeted the west of Ireland, are a matter of regret to people in the west, but they do not come as any surprise.
Thankfully we still have a Government that recognises that its duty extends to all regions of this country, not just to the leafy suburbs of Dublin 4. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The report on the delay of the opening of the western rail corridor was not a surprise. The truth is Iarnród Éireann is really not committed to this project. This is hardly surprising (Home News, August 27th).
The line follows the route of a 19th-century train line via Athenry, where trains will have to stop and wait while the driver changes from one end of the train to the other in order to proceed to Galway. Best estimates are that the journey time from Limerick to Galway (some 100k by road) will be one hour and 50 minutes, with possibly four trains a day. With the opening of the Gort bypass next year and plans moving forward for the Oranmore-Gort upgrading of the N18, private cars and bus services – including those provided by Bus Éireann, in direct competition with Iarnród Éireann, will be able to do the journey in just over an hour within the next few years. How will the trains on the western rail corridor compete with this kind of travel time? They won’t.
The western corridor is simply not necessary, and the money being spent on this white elephant project would be better invested in completing the upgrade of the N17 and N18. Express bus services will then fulfil public transport needs.
West on Track claims to have the support of 100,000 people for this project, but the organisation does not represent the views of everyone in the west of Ireland. Gathering signatures on petitions is easy. If research was carried out in the west asking the simple question, which is the greater priority, the western rail corridor or the N17/18 upgrade, the answer, I can assure you, would be emphatically in favour of the road.
Colm McCarthy suggested halting the western rail project. He was right, and his view was not, as West on Track have said, – “a Dublin 4 vision of the west”.
Dr McCarthy was just being realistic. However a caveat needs to be added to the McCarthy view. The N17/N18 upgrade must be finished as promised in Transport 21. This is the real transport infrastructure issue for the west. – Yours, etc,