Sir, – You report that the new Dublin to Belfast train will be hourly and will take under two hours after an investment of €165 million (News, April 9th). When one reads further into the article, it emerges that this improvement is not going to happen any time soon. It is based on the fact that the Irish Government has pledged €12.5 million in the project as part of the Shared Island initiative and that the earliest expected date of the new improved service is 2029. We are still talking about building a metro to Dublin Airport more than 20 years after it was first mooted so a five-year wait for the new service to Belfast seems quite optimistic. – Yours, etc,
LOUIS O’FLAHERTY,
Dublin 9.