“Getting the Loads off Irish Roads!” – Ambitious All-Island Rail Review Could Transform both Freight Movement and Passenger Travel.
A €37 billion joint plan for the whole of Ireland includes new lines, track doubling, more electrification and better access to ports.
The Review originated in 2021 but was shelved when the N Ireland Executive collapsed in February 2022. The restoration of the Executive in January 2024 gave a chance to resume work on the Review and the Final Version was eventually published in July 2024. It is a comprehensive plan with 32 recommendations for rail developments up to 2050 as part of the two governments’ zero-carbon commitments. It will take the rail network from 1,440 miles to 1,875 miles and concentrate on opening up the North Midlands and the North West and improving cross-border connectivity. Eventually 700,000 more Irish people would live within 5 km of a railway station – a 25% improvement on today’s situation.
There will be a 125 mph inter-city core linking Cork, Dublin and Belfast with a branch to Derry and Dublin as well as Dublin to Kildare with branches to Galway and to Waterford.
Services between Galway and Cork will be improved and new lines built to connect Dublin Airport the the DART system at Clongriffin, Shannon Airport to the Limerick to Ennis mainline and the mothballed Lisburn to Antrim line will be reopened to connect to Belfast’s Aldergrove Airport.
Capacity will be increased with several 2-track lines increased to 4-track and with a number of single-track bottlenecks converted to 2-track lines, such as Portarlington to Athlone and Limerick to Limerick Junction.
At the present time the amount of freight moved of the island’s railways is negligeable, with a market share of only 1% – the lowest in the EU. UK railfreight market share was by comparison 8% in 2023. The island’s current railfreight activity is limited to: (a) Mayo to Waterford; (b) Tara to Dublin; (c) Dublin to Waterford; (d) Dublin to Sligo and (e) Dublin to Letterkenny.
The rail connections to existing port facilities at Dublin, Belfast, Larne, Derry, Rosslare and Waterford are to be improved with new port access being established at Cobh and Foynes. This would result in 66% of the island’s freight tonnage passing through a port served by the railway. There are options for improving rail connectivity to the ports of Belfast and Ringaskiddy, near Cork. In addition a new ro-ro and lo-lo terminal is planned for Poolbeg in Dublin by 2040 with a new rail connection.
Five strategically located road-rail interchange hubs are also planned and the railfreight market share target is 10% – roughly the current EU level.
It is also intended that 80% of train kms would be delivered using electric trains – with a carbon footprint per passenger at just 20% of that using an EV.
All in all the plan is expected to boost the island’s economy by €20 bn (£17 bn) (based on 2011 prices).