Mayo-Sligo railway is ‘vital’ to region’s future, says new report

REOPENING the railway line between Mayo and Sligo could deliver major growth for small towns in Mayo and ‘open up the whole northern part of Connacht’.

A 216-page report, edited by former ESRI professor Dr John Bradley, has made the case for the full reopening of the currently disused railway line from Athenry in Galway to Collooney in Sligo, via Mayo.

The Government has already committed to reopening the line between Claremorris and Athenry. A reopening of the Claremorris-Collooney section has so far been ruled out.

The new report, entitled ‘Atlantic Railway Corridor – The Mayo-Sligo Rail Link: An Appraisal’, estimates that the reopening of the northern section of the line would cost €411.72 million. This would include track replacement and the reopening of stations in Charlestown, Swinford, Kiltimagh with modern parking facilities.

The costs, which were calculated based on the cost of reopening the Athenry-Ennis railway line, amount to roughly €5.5 million per kilometre of track. However, according to the report’s cost-benefit analysis, this investment would be richly rewarded by multiple benefits. 

BENEFITS

IF REOPENED, the railway station at Charlestown would offer easy access to Ireland West Airport Knock, which would be a mere seven-minute bus journey away.

Passengers could potentially travel from Claremorris to Sligo in approximately 70 minutes on the restored line. A journey from Sligo to Galway, accounting for a 120km/h line speed and one-minute stops at all stations, would take around two hours and ten minutes.

The potential benefits listed in the report include increased passenger revenue for Iarnród Éireann and reduced CO2 emissions due to less car use and more freight being transported by rail, which would also benefit large employers such as Baxter, Coillte and Coca-Cola. The report also highlighted how reopening the line would provide connectivity between three Atlantic Technological University campuses in Galway, Castlebar and Sligo.

The rail route’s potential benefits to job creation and the region’s tourism industry has also been much discussed.

Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday), Dr Bradley, said the full reopening of the Western Rail Corridor would address the growth imbalance between railway towns and those not served by rail.

He said that investing in the northern half of the Western Rail Corridor would prevent ‘lobsided development within County Mayo, where the middle and the south will be booming and the north will be shrivelling’.

SHOVEL READY

Dr Bradley described the Iarnród Éireann-owned infrastructure north of Claremorris as ‘shovel ready’. “The line from Ennis to Collooney is still owned by Iarnród Éireann,” he pointed out. Unlike the Westport to Achill line, the track has not been pulled up. Indeed, according to Dr Bradley, a train is run from Ennis to Collooney once a year, for legal reasons.

The report indicates that reopening the line from Claremorris to Collooney would help address economic imbalance within the region.

“If you look at Claremorris, Castlebar, Westport, Ballyhaunis, between say the census of 1991 and the most recent census of 2022, those towns have been growing at well over 100 percent. They are growing phenomenally fast,” said Dr Bradley. “If you go north of the east-west line, and you have Charlestown, Swinford, Foxford, Ballina, Tubbercurry, even Sligo – they are growing much, much more slowly,” Dr Bradley explained.

The report also criticises the omission of the Claremorris-Collooney section from the All-Ireland Rail Review, which recommended the reopening of the Claremorris-Athenry section.

Last May, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan was heavily criticised by elected representatives in Mayo after he told members of Sligo County Council that the Claremorris to Collooney line would not be reopened. Those criticisms have been echoed by Dr Bradley.

“This is not about €100 million here or €100 million there for a railway line, it’s about the whole development of the northwest region,” he said.

“The whole northwest region is in serious trouble and many of the political parties don’t want to do anything about it. They want to focus on the east coast and the south coast.”

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

A SPOKESPERSON for lobby group West on Track welcomed the report, describing the logic of reopening the line as ‘inescapable’.

The Claremorris-Athenry section of the Western Rail Corridor has been included in the EU’s revised TEN-T network, making it eligible for funding under the Connecting Europe Facility.

Sinn Féin MEP for the Midlands North-West, Chris McManus, voted for the new TEN-T regulation but described the omission of the Claremorris-Collooney section as ‘a missed opportunity’.

“The rail line is vital to the future of our region in terms of connectivity and economic development, and it is critical that the entire line is reopened,” Mr McManus said.