By 
RAIL campaigners held a well-attended public meeting in Strabane this week where the case for trains returning to the town was outlined, along with a new ‘Metro NorthWest’ proposal for a better connected region.
On Monday, the ‘Into The West’ group held the first of two Tyrone meetings stating that ‘trains must return to Strabane, Omagh and Dungannon’.
The campaigners recently launched an ambitious new proposal for rail branded ‘Metro NorthWest’ – which takes the existing rail network that runs between Derry, Coleraine and Portrush, expands it in ways that are already progressing following the All-Island Rail Strategy – including new stations in Strabane and Omagh – and then enhances it further by adding a number of new stations – including places like Sion Mills and Newtownstewart.
Chair of Into The West, Steve Bradley, said: “It was great to see a good crowd at our Strabane event on Monday, with everyone in attendance really engaging with the need for rail to return to Tyrone and for the region to be better connected.
“Our key message on the night was that only five years ago the idea that Tyrone should get its rail back would have been considered ‘pie in the sky’. Yet now there is an All-Island Rail Strategy endorsed by the governments north and south which states clearly that trains must return to Strabane, Omagh and Dungannon.
“And just two months ago a Rail Prioritisation Strategy was released by the two governments, which makes the return of rail to those towns a key project. So it is not longer a case of if rail will be returning to Strabane and Tyrone – it is now a case of when.”
Into the West was founded in 2004 – initially to save the railway line between Derry and Coleraine from the threat of closure – and has since established itself as the leading voice for rail transport across this corner of the island.
The timeline for rail being restored in Tyrone was another key message on Monday. Mr Bradley continued, “Reintroducing a rail line between Derry and Portadown would connect Strabane, Omagh and Dungannon to the rail network again, and reinstate a North West Rail Corridor between this corner of the island and its largest cities in Dublin and Belfast.
However, the current proposal is to only restore that route in 2045 at the earliest. That would condemn yet another generation to be born and raised in Tyrone without rail – with all the damage that would cause to our economy, population and tourism.”
The closing message of Into The West’s event on Monday was that people locally must believe that rail will return to the county, and demand that the date for doing so is accelerated.
Steve Bradley concluded: “The NorthWest Rail Corridor from Derry to Portadown scored the highest of any rail reopening project in the recent All-Island Rail Strategy – with an expectation of 3 million passengers a year. So it is an extremely viable project which would completely alter the connectivity of all of Tyrone.
“It is therefore essential that the timescale for introducing it is brought forward, so that Strabane and Omagh can start to reap its benefits as early as possible. That’s why our meeting on Monday encouraged everyone to become advocates for rail in Strabane, and demand that their elected representatives and council secure speedier reintroduction.”
