There is an overwhelming economic and environmental case for expanding the rail network
THE development of a properly modernised northern rail network offers massive potential to both urban and rural districts, even though it has been surrounded for many decades by a striking amount of politics and intrigue.
While any expansion needs careful planning at all levels, as well as the kind of cross-party backing which will be difficult to achieve, there is still an overwhelming economic and environmental case for significant investment in the sector.
There is also a timeless magic about trains, brought home to me during a visit earlier this month to the UK’s National Railway Museum in York, which is home to a remarkable range of exhibits from across these islands.
York is more than twice the size of Derry, but there are firm comparisons between the two famously walled cities in terms of their roles in history and the unique charms which they have always retained.
A major difference is that trains are very much at the heart of the community in York, while in Derry they have been neglected on a long-term basis, with the authorities frequently giving an impression of indifference towards the region generally.
Belfast and Dublin both have reasonable transport museums, but the York complex is fully dedicated to rail, and is a hugely impressive facility, which, unlike its Irish counterparts, offers free public entry.
The star of the show, alongside many other attractions, is very much The Flying Scotsman, regarded as the world’s most famous steam locomotive, with its massive gleaming presence still capable of generating awe and looking every inch one of the technological marvels of its era.
A name mentioned in the displays, although in considerably less than reverential terms, is that of Richard Beeching, who was commissioned by the then Conservative transport minister Ernest Marples to produce a devastating 1963 review of the British rail system, which resulted in the closure of almost a third of the existing train stations, in what is cited to this day as one of the most disastrous government policies of the post-war era, and produced a fundamental shift towards motorways.
Marples faced repeated accusations of a conflict of interest because of his previous position as managing director of a road construction business, and was later linked to scandals over tax evasion and the use of prostitutes before he eventually fled to Monaco.
It was widely believed that the Beeching report was influenced by the decisions of the former Stormont administration in the late 1950s and early 1960s to effectively remove trains from most nationalist areas, leaving the nearest branch lines across the border with no option other than to close as well.
The remaining northern rail infrastructure, other than the Belfast to Dublin section, has struggled to survive ever since, with the huge population of Tyrone glaringly left without a single station, although an ambitious blueprint has been drawn up, and endorsed by campaigners from the Into The West and Belfast Circle Line groups, which has the potential to take us into a new era and reduce the appalling grip of congestion on our roads.
Translink’s proposals include electrification of the route from Belfast to the border, reopening the Antrim-Lisburn connection with the addition of a long discussed service to Belfast International Airport, restoring the Portadown-Derry line with stations at Dungannon, Omagh and Strabane-Lifford, as well as bringing back a track from Portadown to Armagh.
It is far from a perfect strategy, with commentators pointing out that it would increase the number of stations on the eastern side of Northern Ireland from 51 to 60, while initially leaving just three in the west, but it would at least represent the start of a serious attempt to address institutionalised imbalances and provide the kind of rail regeneration already in place across most of the rest of Europe.
The problem as ever is finance, with total uncertainty over where the required £4.5bn could be found, although waiting another decade for an outcome would probably increase the bill to £10bn for a long-overdue and completely necessary upgrade.
Other factors have to be taken into consideration, with the legal upheaval over the A5 road, stretching from Newbuildings outside Derry city to Aughnacloy on the border, which may take many years to resolve, having major implications for transport planning west of the Bann.
There is also a growing housing crisis in greater Belfast, which is going to require increasingly urgent attention and means that encouraging people to live in towns and villages elsewhere, while commuting to work if necessary, will have to become a priority.
The solution to many of these questions lies with our railways, and, as the old saying goes, it is time to let the train take the strain.
