Debate contribution: All-island Rail Network

Debate contribution by Mr Cathal Boylan on 27 February 2024.

MLA: Mr Cathal Boylan
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 27 February 2024
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: All-island Rail Network
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4237707

Text

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the motion and amendment. The previous Member to speak did not say that she was speaking in her capacity as Chair of the Infrastructure Committee. No doubt the issue will raise its head at the Committee over the next while. Sinn Féin firmly believes in the untapped potential of rail to contribute towards sustainable social, environmental and economic development across the island of Ireland. By providing efficient, reliable and more frequent connectivity, we can connect more people, cities, towns, regions and communities and tackle the climate emergency by providing viable transport options, in which rail has a significant role to play. Our island's rail network has suffered from decades of neglect and underinvestment. Significant areas of the island are still not served by rail, and adequate public transport options are not available in many areas. We need to invest in a proper transport network. One hundred years of partition have severely damaged North/South connectivity. We need to look at how we can rebuild our rail network on an all-island basis.
The publication of the draft rail review last year was a step in the right direction and highlights the need for increased investment in rail infrastructure. I very much welcome the funding that the Irish Government announced last week in order to make the Belfast to Dublin rail line an hourly service. Sinn Féin has constantly called for the improvement of that crucial rail service, which workers and students use every day and on which people depend for connectivity. An hourly service will double the frequency of trains on that line. It is incredibly popular, and the investment will help connect communities further, tackle the climate emergency and, no doubt, bolster North/South links. The announcement last year that £3·3 million will be made available for examining the cost and feasibility of electrifying the rail line from Belfast to the border is welcome. I also welcome the investment of £800,000 that was made available for Translink to conduct a feasibility study of the Armagh to Portadown rail link. That followed positive findings from a council-commissioned technical study, which stated that the rail line would promote sustainable transport in the region. Such a rail link would improve connectivity, create greater access to jobs and opportunities and enhance the economic development of the wider area. It was, of course, frustrating for our comrades to my right when the west of the Bann and the north-west were not mentioned in the funding programme. We need to improve our rail network in the North, particularly in the west and north-west, to unlock economic opportunities and ensure that workers and families have better access to public transport. If we are serious about tackling carbon emissions and getting people out of cars, we need a reliable, affordable, fit-for-purpose public transport system. Rail will play a major role in that.

479 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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