Madam, - Derek Wheeler, a spokesman for Platform II, is quoted (April 6th) as offering as a reason for opposing the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor (WRC) linking Sligo with Galway that "there was no major population centre north of Tuam which was not currently served by rail." This is startling stuff. (Letterkenny?) It also suggests a remarkable lack of vision on the part of someone apparently speaking for a "national rail transport group."
The Into The West rail lobby, formed in Derry earlier this year to campaign for the retention and upgrading of the Derry-Ballymena stretch of the line to Belfast, envisages an extension westwards and southwards from Derry to link up with the WRC at Sligo.
The Northern rail operator, Translink, this week begins to take delivery of 23 new Spanish-manufactured trains at a cost of £80 million. These are designed to run on continuously welded track at speeds of 90 m.p.h. The upgrading of the Derry-Ballymena line, currently a badly maintained jointed track, would give a Derry-Belfast travel time of just over an hour, and would attract huge numbers away from the roads, to the considerable benefit of the environment and of travel safety. It will require a determined battle against the pro-road privatisers at Translink and the Northern Ireland Office to make this a reality.
Into The West, however, has brought together rail workers, the wider trade union movement, tourism interests, environmentalists, rail enthusiasts and representatives of a number of political parties, including the Socialist Environmental Alliance, and the necessary battle is now under way.
The all-Ireland dimension of this effort is vital. Upgrading Derry-Ballymena would offer a Derry-Dublin journey via Belfast of a little over three hours. This would be regarded by most travellers, as by those who care for the environment and about the death toll on the roads, as a better option than bus (four hours and 25 minutes) or plane - too expensive for use other than in emergencies, and travel time dependent on Dublin traffic.
Instead of undermining the efforts of groups such as West on Track, Platform II should be co-ordinating its campaigning with those who are striving not only for the reopening and upgrading of the WRC but its extension through Bundoran and Letterkenny to Derry.
Mr Wheeler says that the €300 million this initiative would require would be better spent on projects elsewhere. This proposition can be sustained only on the basis of the sort of short-sighted, weary, state profit-and-loss calculation which has blighted beauty everywhere we look and made so much of travel uncongenial.
We in the north west are strengthening our links with fellow campaigners in the South. The Derry-Ballymena and Sligo-Galway rail links are essential elements of the modern people-friendly and environment-friendly transport infrastucture which the island needs and deserves. - Yours, etc.,
EAMONN McCANN, Socialist Environmental Alliance, Westland Avenue, Derry.