Destruction of east Mayo rail corridor is not progress - West on Track

A report that the railway from Collooney to Bellaghy/Charlestown may be ripped up and replaced by a cycle path beggars belief, according to a statement by West on Track, the organisation heading the campaign for the Western Reialy Corridor.

The statement outlined: "It is understood that Iarnród Éireann has been forced to change its position on giving up the railway as a result of political lobbying by local TDs.

"The railway company had offered to assist in every way with providing space for a greenway at a safe distance from the track but this was deemed unacceptable by those whose clear agenda is to prevent there ever being a railway from Sligo to Galway.

For some time three of our TDs in Sligo have been claiming that they would like to see the restoration of the railway from Sligo to Galway.

"But instead of insisting that Sligo should be given parity of esteem with the rest of the region they are now telling us that they have been intensively lobbying the Taoiseach for the railway to be removed and replaced by a greenway.

"Incredibly, this appears to be the summit of their ambition for Sligo. In saying this, they are completely out of step with all of the other Oireachtas members in the west and northwest, who are unanimous in calling for the completion of the rail corridor to Sligo.

"Even as work is about to begin on restoring the next phase of the railway from Galway to Mayo we are being told that what Sligo needs is a greenway.

"We need to be clear that the destruction of the rail corridor is not progress for Sligo or for this region.

"A greenway, while welcome, is in fact a seasonal leisure amenity and is not remotely comparable to the economic benefits that would accrue from a north-south railway connection for Sligo to the regional capital of Galway and to Ireland West international airport.

"They claim that a greenway would protect the route for a future railway but the recent experience of Youghal has shown this to be false.

"They dismiss the idea of a greenway being built within the boundary at a safe distance from the rail track as proposed by Iarnród Éireann and insist that the railway MUST be removed.

"Most sensible people would say that both should be accommodated and that it should not be a case of ‘either/or’.

"The time has come for people in Sligo to call a halt to this nonsense.

"The vast majority of people would favour a dual solution to this issue and they would certainly want to see the railway restored from Sligo to Galway.

"Ironically, at the same time, the line to Midleton is being doubled and a state of the art greenway is being built parallel to it but the logical extension to Youghal is now impossible unless a new rail line is built.

"A major campaign is now under way to try and connect Youghal but it is clearly too late as the damage has been done.

"We cannot afford to repeat this mistake in Sligo."