Sir, - In the middle of September I spent nine days in Ireland and visited 21 of the 26 counties. Much of my travelling was done by rail. Though the services are less frequent than in England, your stations are clean and smartly maintained and many trains - including those going to sparsely populated parts of the country - carry refreshment facilities and even buffet cars. The experience of travelling on them is therefore a pleasant one.
I was particularly impressed to see how many lines are being refurbished. However, it is regrettable that with the exception of the Limerick to Waterford line, all the routes radiate from Dublin.
It is particularly unfortunate that the route from Ennis to Sligo is no longer open. This line, which is about 115 miles long, intersected the Galway line at Athenry and the Westport/Ballina line at Claremorris. I believe that the track is still down, so there is no insuperable obstacle to reopening it if and when funds are available.
If this line were restored to use, all the main towns in the west (Sligo, Westport, Galway, Ennis and Limerick), could once more be linked by rail both to one another and to places in the south. This would be a great boon to your expanding tourist trade as well as to the inhabitants. At the very least, nothing should be done to prejudice the reopening of this line in the future.
In Britain, during the 1960s and subsequently, track beds were sold off and obliterated, thus rendering prohibitively expensive the restoration of rail services even when this is thought to be highly desirable. I most strongly urge the Irish people not to follow our example.- Yours, etc.,
J. Martin Stafford, Solihull, England.