COMMENT: Let’s deal with the Western Rust Corridor for once and for all
The article in last week's Sligo Weekender (Page 5: “No justification” for ripping up railways track and replacing it with “bicycle track” says Mayor) - about replacing a railway with a ‘bicycle track' caught my attention last week.
Sligo Mayor Declan Bree assembled a number of people to make a case for rejecting the available funding for a greenway on the closed rail route from Collooney to Bellaghy. Most people understand the nature of this kind of campaigning in an election year but let me set a few records straight for the benefit of anybody who wants the facts.
I should start with the dramatic headline, ‘ripping up rail line.' There is no rail line, there is nothing there that could facilitate the movement of a train, there is what one engineer called a ‘linear scrapheap' of rusted rails and rotten sleepers, lying on a bed of stone ballast that will all have to be removed if anybody comes up with around €700 million to put a railway on the stretch of closed line between Collooney and Charlestown.
There is no plan, by the way, for anyone to do that before 2040 at the earliest, and well beyond that if we listen to the sensible voices and not the wishful thinkers. So, removing the scrap will have to be done regardless of any future use of this asset, unless of course we continue with the current policy of letting it rot and letting the land gradually fall out of public ownership.
I'm not running for election, so I don't have to make happy promises, so let me offer a few facts instead.
It is nonsense to suggest that removing scrap rails will stop a railway being built. It is equally untrue to say that a greenway will stop a railway from being built. Greenways on closed rail routes are built under a licence that always gives priority to rail. Greenways keep closed rail routes in public ownership and protect them from squatters. A greenway will pay for itself in as little as five years.
And a few more facts. Greenways in Mayo, Waterford and Limerick have created around 1,000 rural jobs. A greenway can create more jobs than a medium-sized factory.
Waterford Greenway attracted 250,000 unique visitors in the first year of operation. Greenways provide a superb local amenity for families, and a safe route to school and work.
A railway from Claremorris to Collooney would cost approximately €700 million. A greenway from Claremorris to Collooney would cost approximately €10 million, or about half that amount within the borders of Sligo. There is no funding available for a railway for the foreseeable future, but there is funding available for a greenway, the council just has to accept it.
I'm not against a railway, far from it. I would like to see a railway on that route, with fast trains running on a modern line, in case I ever needed to use it. But I would much prefer to see the energies of the Inter County Railway Committee focussed on the third-world service on the SligoDublin line, a busy route with a 40-mph average speed and not even a tea trolley to pass the time. I would also like to see councillors address the dangerous stretch of the N17 through County Sligo, the transport corridor most of use and will continue to use even if a train comes back.
But it's not coming back any time soon. It is not included in the National Plan that brings us to 2040, a plan that already has a €6 billion hole in it due to construction inflation. What chance then of a railway that has already been quantified as unviable being included in a shrinking transport pot?
Because building a railway from Collooney to Claremorris will be very expensive, about 700 million using current industry costings. The engineering challenges are huge; there are several hundred road crossings on the closed line, and a modern service will require that most of these are engineered out for safety and speed reasons. This will involve deep cuttings with hundreds of roadbridge crossings, or tunnelling, or high embankments with rail bridges over roads. In addition, the existing embankments, bridges and culverts were designed for a light railway system and will mostly have to be replaced. It is not as simple as ‘reactivating' an existing railway, as suggested by Councillor Bree.
The article quotes the Chief Executive of Irish Rail as saying that he wants to keep the ClaremorrisCollooney section of the closed line for rail use, and indeed with the exception of a few squatters, nobody would disagree with that sentiment.
However, the Chief Executive has also said greenways on closed lines are a ‘win-win,' the best way of preserving the public ownership of these assets. Every lease given to County Councils for the use of closed lines as greenways includes a robust clause that acknowledges the primary use of the asset as rail.
But for now, while we're waiting for a train, can the last few remaining councillors not get behind an exciting project to eliminate the dereliction on the Western Rust Corridor, while creating hundreds of rural jobs and protecting a publicly owned asset?
If it is any consolation to the handful still opposed to the greenway, they can take comfort that there were nine Waterford Councillors equally opposed to the Deise Greenway. However, during the opening ceremony for that successful project, all nine were to be seen on the platform, applauding the speeches. They are all now in favour of the greenway, because everybody loves a winner.