NEWLY ELECTED Deputy Leader of the Greens, Senator Roisin Garvey (GP) has said the creation of a rail link to Shannon Airport must be a top priority.
Approval for the all-island strategic rail review was reached at a meeting of the Cabinet on Tuesday ahead of the summer recess. The review, which was undertaken by the Irish Government in partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive, sets out a €30 billion rail investment strategy for the next twenty years.
Included in the review is a proposal to build a railway connection between Limerick City and Shannon Airport.
Senator Garvey stressed the importance of following through on this proposal. “This particular part of the Rail Review is of vital importance to our efforts to ensure that there is a real balance in our Rural Development and a commitment to the Midwest and its people. I will continue to push Minister Ryan to keep regional balance foremost in his efforts to push this important work on our rail infrastructure forward”.
Commitments to improve other rail services included having at least one train every two hours between Galway to Limerick, Limerick to Cork, Limerick to Ballybrophy, Dublin to Sligo and Dublint o Mayo were welcomed by the Inagh woman. Services between Cork and Galway via Limerick with modifications to track and platforms at Limerick Junction are also planned.
The All-Island Strategic Rail Review (AISRR) was jointly commissioned by the Department of Transport in Ireland and the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland and was announced in April 2021 by Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan TD (GP) and Northern Ireland’s Minister for Infrastructure, Nicola Mallon MLA.
The Review considers how the Island’s railways are currently used, what role rail could play in future, and how the Island’s railway could better serve the people of the Island of Ireland. The vision of the review is to provide a “high quality, sustainable and integrated railway for passengers and goods across the Island of Ireland”.
Six high-level goals are set out in the review, to contribute to decarbonisation; to improve All Island connectivity between major cities; to enhance regional accessibility; to stimulate economic activity;, to encourage sustainable mobility; and to achieve economic and financial feasibility. It also considers the interactions between proposed improvements and existing, or planned, commuter rail services. It does not consider rail within major cities, which is subject to separate and established strategic planning processes.
The Review covers the period to 2050 to align with both jurisdictions’ stated goals of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Review has developed recommendations and a roadmap for achieving the Goals and Objectives of the Study. The Roadmap presents a timeline for the possible future development and delivery of key interventions in the short term: from today to c. 2030; in the medium term: 2030 – 2040; and in the long term: 2040 – 2050.
