“Irish Lines are Smiling” – Ambitious All-Island Rail Review Could Transform both Passenger Travel and Freight Movements.
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 had to be 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.
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.
