Rail review proposes expansion of network through Tyrone towns

The return of a railway network through Tyrone could be achieved within a generation, following the publication of a major review on the expansion of the rail network.

The All-Island Rail Review recommends that a new line be opened between Portadown and Derry, and that it should pass through major Tyrone towns such as Dungannon, Omagh and Strabane.

But the recommendations within the report cannot be progressed until a new Minister for Infrastructure is appointed at Stormont.

Nevertheless, the plan has been widely welcomed as an important step towards restoring the rail link through Tyrone, which was severed in February, 1965.

A majority of the funding required to overhaul the Irish rail network, £23.6 out of £31.5 billion, will be provided by the Irish Government.

Campaigner, Steve Bradley, said an extended rail network must return to the north-west.

“If we are serious about the climate crisis, regional development and social justice – both north and south – then we really need to look at providing mass transport alternatives to the car.

“But it will all come down to whether our elected politicians and the civil servants in Stormont feel strongly enough about rail – and that’s where we would have concerns.”

West Tyrone MP, Orfhlaith Begley, said the restoration of the rail network “must be a priority.”

“I welcome the recommendations to return rail to Strabane and Omagh, we need an all-Ireland rail network for all citizens in the 32 counties.

“If we are serious about tackling regional imbalance, then we need to see connectivity restored in co Tyrone.”