It is very good news to hear but a lot more is left wanting. I wouldn't trust the Irish Republic's government to achieve much, and much less from Stormont... The more we wait on rail restoration, the more expensive it will be in the future. And nobody seems to put two and two together over how preserved rail tours are an ideal way to generate revenue, tourism and awareness for traffic
I remember going to Derry via the old GNR and returning via the NCC line in 1963, just before the GNR line was closed. A terrible shame perpetrated by the UTA. Good luck with these proposals! Cheers from Australia.
Of course Northern Ireland should do this. With support from London and Dublin. I can't see it happening though sadly. London doesn't give a damn about the North and we are not much better down south at investing in heavy rail.
As usual for most cases for re-opening rail the only way to get enough business transferred from road transport to rail is a combination of sanction and coercion if the financial case is to stand up without massive govt. support. The Zero Carbon and Green activists find this very difficult to accept.
So much concentration on the cost. Thirty billion isn't astronomical these days, considering the benefits, and it's not as if the service will be free, so there will be money coming in, down the line .... I'll be in my eighties, but I sure hope to be around to witness the realisation of a dream.
Partition was certainly a bit of a disaster for the Railway lines of Ireland. From what I’ve read the southern transport company (CIE) done it’s best in difficult economic times to keep as many railway lines opened as possible. But the northern transport company (UTA) appear to have been actively hostile to the Railways, not only directly closing most of the lines on the northern side, but indirectly causing many lines on the southern side to close too, as they were useless without the connections on the northern side.
We have already wasted enough money into roads building new motorways here in Northern Ireland. The only money we have put into rail is Maintenace costs for the tracks/stations and buying new trains. We have not built a new line in years; we have only closed them. We need to give rail a better chance.
