Major developments in Ireland have been marked by the introduction of service expansion in the Republic and an announcement by a Northern Ireland minister that the future of links from Belfast to Larne and Londonderry are secure.
The north’s Regional Development Minister, Conor Murphy, said: “The entire rail network is important, particularly if our overall objective is to reduce our carbon footprint.”
Mr Murphy said investment was being made in both the Larne and Londonderry lines, the future of which had been under threat in recent years.
Work is due to start in 2011 on a £64 million two-year upgrade of the line from Coleraine to Londonderry and, in the more immediate future, some £12 million will be spent on improving the Ballymena-Coleraine section.
Ultimately, the aim is to cut 30 minutes off the present journey time of two hours 10 minutes between Belfast and Londonderry.
Improvements are also under way on the Larne line, including plans for new trains. Mr Murphy said: “The existing rolling stock is being refurbished but that is not a long-term solution. The objective is to acquire new trains for 2011.”
In the south, Iarnród Éireann (IE) has unveiled a series of service improvements in the coming year, including the introduction of a new fleet of diesel Intercity railcars on the Dublin-Sligo route (as revealed in last November’s Railnews).
Just two years after the Sligo service was increased from three trains each way to five, IE’s fastest-growing route will move up to eight trains each way daily (Mon-Fri) from 21 January.
Dublin-Sligo is the first route to benefit from the £285 million fleet of 183 Intercity railcar carriages which will be rolled out across the network through 2008.
Among other improvements, boat connections from Fishguard are reinstated with the introduction of an 18.55 Rosslare to Dublin Connolly service. And on the route from Limerick City there are now 15 trains each weekday to and from Dublin Heuston
With the introduction of the new Intercity fleet, IE says there will also be increased service frequency on three further routes – Westport/Ballina-Dublin, Galway-Dublin and Waterford-Dublin.
Next year, direct Limerick-Galway services will be introduced as the first phase of the re-opened Western Rail Corridor is completed.