PLANS TO LINK DONEGAL AND BELFAST BY RAIL ‘A PIPE DREAM’ SAYS LEADING ECONOMIST

A  document on the future of rail services has revealed an ambitious £1bn plan to link Derry to Sligo via Letterkenny.

Plan to bring rail line to Donegal is just a pipe dream says economist

But there are fears for cross-border rail after it emerged that passenger numbers on the Belfast to Dublin Enterprise service dropped by more than a fifth in a decade.

Martin Melaugh, from rail lobby group Into the West, suggested that the Enterprise train should not stop at Belfast but continue on to Derry.

“With new rolling stock and an express service taking three and a quarter hours, this would be an attractive option for passengers traveling between the North West and Dublin,” he said.

But the Sligo link and others to Donegal and Letterkenny have been described by leading economist John Simpson as a pipe dream.

But they are listed as options in Northern Ireland’s Department for Regional Development’s Future Railway Investment Consultation paper.

The dearest package is developing links to Donegal — costing £11m per new mile of railway.

A rail link between Derry and Letterkenny would cost £242m; £506m to Donegal town and £924m to Sligo.