Sir, – Michael McDowell calls Eamon Ryan's plan for a railway link between Derry and Letterkenny "bonkers" ("Green policies are increasingly divorced from reality", Opinion & Analysis, September 15th).
We have been here before.
The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company opened its service to Letterkenny in 1883. The Letterkenny and Burtonport Extension Railway (L&BER) was added in 1903, connecting Gaoth Dobhair to the outside world.
With kinder language than Michael McDowell, The Irish Times dubbed the L&BER, “That Old Sinner” in 1917 because of its troubled history.
:fill(white):background_color(white)/static.themebuilder.aws.arc.pub/irishtimes/1647534191476.png)
The last train ran from Letterkenny to Derry on August 8th, 1953.
While northwest Donegal still awaits a dual carriageway to Dublin, we have the Wild Atlantic Way, which leads nowhere in both directions. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair,
Co Dhún na nGall.