West-on-Track claims

West-on-Track claim insidious campaign afoot to derail project


Michael Commins

WEST-on-Track representatives are reacting with fury to what they perceive as an ‘insidious campaign’ by outside commentators to undermine the Western Rail Corridor project. And they have launched a blistering counter attack on those who have been mounting a high profile operation of ‘disinformation and untruths’ under the cover of ‘concerned commentary’.
Claremorris-based Colman Ó Raghallaigh, one of the driving forces behind the West-on-Track campaign, says there has been a noticeable increase in the sniping by some well-known Dublin-based economists in the national media in what he says is clearly a determined campaign to derail the project and prevent it from proceeding any further.
“This insidious campaign, coming from entirely outside of this region, has been under way since early this summer and has recently been renewed in the run-in to the Budget. As we have previously pointed out, the campaign is being systematically conducted through articles in national and local newspapers and appearances by Dublin-based economists, ‘commentators’ and former politicians on high-profile radio programmes and chat shows.
“While cloaking their real agenda under the cover of concerned commentary about the state of the national finances, these people are systematically disseminating disinformation and untruths about the WRC in an attempt to pressurise the Government into halting the remaining phases of the project as outlined in Transport 21.”
Mr O Raghallaigh says the real economics of the project speak for themselves but that Dublin based commentators are doing their level best to distort the facts. “A typical example is the lumping together of the Western Rail Corridor (WRC), an existing piece of national infrastructure, with the proposed Metro North as if the two bear any resemblance to each other. The former, as outlined in Transport 21, and currently under construction, will deliver 76 miles of national primary railway infrastructure, including stations and signalling for just over €200m while the proposed Metro is variously estimated at somewhere between €3,000 and €6,000 million.
“These so-called ‘expert’ commentators are wheeled out to create the impression that the WRC is a hugely expensive project on a par with the Metro, when mile for mile, it is almost certainly the best value for money in the entire Transport 21 portfolio, representing less than 0.5 per cent of the expenditure planned under Transport 21.”
The West-on-Track committee believe the increase in levels of attack on the WRC is nothing short of a direct attempt to sabotage the whole project, but believe the Government remains committed to its completion.
“The Government of Ireland is to be commended for taking a national view of the development of infrastructure and looking to the future in terms of planning for the whole country. In spite of this sordid campaign of disinformation, we remain absolutely confident that it will proceed with the project which is now well ahead of schedule, that it will prove all the cynics wrong and that these insidious attempts to sabotage it will fail,” says Mr Ó Raghallaigh.
The Western Rail Corridor from Ennis to Claremorris is currently being rebuilt with the first phase, linking Galway and Limerick scheduled to become operational in April of next year. The cost, which includes upgrades to the existing Intercity railway between Athenry and Galway city, is €106m. The shorter sections to Tuam and Claremorris will then be completed as outlined in the programme for Government at a similar cost.