Sir, – Sadhbh O’Neill’s article (Science&Climate, October 26th) highlighted how an expanded railway network could provide the infrastructure backbone to our economy and ensure that previously neglected regions of our country could be developed.
Brendan Quinn’s letter (November 2nd) summarises neatly the opposition we have in Ireland to the expansion of our railways and to developing our neglected regions, particularly the north-west.
He made incorrect assumptions. If a railway was to be rebuilt on the route between Claremorris and Sligo, it would be built to run trains at speed, and on a very frequent basis.
Mr Quinn’s claims that any trains on the line would be slow and infrequent appear to be based on wishful thinking rather than modern-day reality.
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Were the railway to be reopened, it would allow high-speed and frequent trains to run between Cork and Sligo. Expanding the railway further again to connect Letterkenny and Derry, we would then have a west coast railway spine that would form an infrastructure backbone to allow our western towns and cities to act as a counterweight to Dublin.
Developing these towns along the railway with affordable housing and bringing jobs would bring balanced regional development and keep our young people at home, in work, in thriving communities.
Or we can indulge ourselves in a little bit of greenwashing to have a nice cycle path which will be largely in seasonal use only. The choice is ours. – Yours, etc,
RICHARD LOGUE,
Quigley’s Point, Co Donegal.
Sir, – On the subject of restoring western railways, in 1910 my uncle, then a pre-med student in Queen’s College, Galway, decided with fellow students to race the Galway-Clifden train on their bikes.
They won! – Yours, etc,
MARION WALSH,
Donnybrook, Dublin 4.