Motorway completion will reduce need for rail corridor reopening

The construction of the Gort to Tuam motorway, which is expected to commence early in the New Year, has reduced the need for the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor, a new study has found.

When the provision of the new motorway is taken into account, the need to reopen a section of the rail line significantly diminishes.

This is another setback to the campaign for the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor – already the Minister for Transport has ruled out the possibility of funding the project.

The 2030 Rail Network Strategy Review has concluded that the reopening of the Athenry to Tuam section of the rail line does not merit a feasibility study – and the section from Tuam to Claremorris even less so.

It has given momentum to those who are anxious to have a walking and cycling greenway provided the Western Rail Corridor stretching from Athenry to Tuam.

The review group developed a methodology to determine if sections of railway should be reinstated or closed – the competition provided by the road network was used to assess this.

When it came to the assessment of the Western Rail Corridor, the proposed motorway between Gort and Tuam was used to determine if it should be reopened. The findings showed that it fell well short of it being a business case.

Given this methodology any suggested new rail lines were appraised and scored out of a possible 100 marks. The Tuam to Athenry section came in at 41 marks with the Tuam to Claremorris line coming in at just 31 marks.

It means that the provision of a motorway will dilute the need for the reopening of the rail corridor significantly.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.