Debate contribution: Knockmore Line to Belfast International Airport

Debate contribution by Ms Liz Kimmins on 16 September 2025.

MLA

Ms Liz Kimmins

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

16 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Knockmore Line to Belfast International Airport

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5112074

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I am going to come on to budget, so I will come to a wee bit around that. The transport plan sets out the potential interventions that I propose to bring forward to address many of my priorities in the strategy. The regional strategic transport network transport plan (RSTNTP) will detail proposed changes to the railway network for the period up to 2035. I recognise that we talked about the 2040 Belfast City Airport master plan. I had the pleasure of meeting Belfast City Airport representatives last week in advance of the launch today, as I knew that I would not be able to attend. It is exciting and ambitious, but it recognises that major infrastructure projects take time and investment, as well as collaboration, something that I look forward to see coming to fruition. Our own RSTNTP will consider the work undertaken from the feasibility study of the Knockmore line and appraise that scheme against all of the competing priorities, as Members will be aware. In parallel with the strategy and plans, we are taking steps to address the climate and biodiversity crisis. The Climate Change Act 2022 places clear responsibilities on all Departments to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050. To enable that, my Department must reduce emissions from the transport sector so that they are almost net zero by 2050. We cannot overestimate the challenge that net zero represents, especially in relation to transport.

I will in a wee second. Most of us rely on some form of transport every day, mainly a car, bus or train, to go about our daily life. Rail is a really good way of ensuring that we reduce emissions and have that modal shift. I will give way.

I thank the Member for that point. I am not overly familiar with Ballymartin, so I probably need to get a bit more information on that, but, ideally —.

Feel free to write in. In relation to all that we have discussed here this evening, I think that everyone here has commended the all-island strategic rail review and shown great support for it. It sought to provide a strategic vision for rail across Ireland. I welcome the comments from David Honeyford about what is happening in Dublin and having an all-island vision. It makes sense. Our railway lines do not stop at the border, in the same way as our roads and many other things do not. It makes sense for us to look at that holistically. Also, by mentioning some of the work that is happening in Dublin, you are feeding into my argument for Irish unity. Look at what the South can achieve with the budgets that it has access to in terms of having —.

Well, if it is in front of my face, I cannot ignore it.

In all seriousness, the investment piece is key to all of this, and it is an example of what can be achieved when we have access to healthier budgets and our own —.

Very quickly, because I will never get through this.

We will not always agree on everything, but the point I am making is that, even when it comes to subsidising the public transport network, they can do so much more in the South because they are not hamstrung by some of the Budgets that we have in the North. I have digressed a little from the all-island rail review, which was published in July last year. It set out 32 recommendations to improve inter-urban and regional rural rail systems for passengers and communities across the island up to 2050, which will not be long in coming in. It is important to say that, given that we talked about 2007 for the Knockmore line. It looks at aligning with net zero goals in the North and South of the island. The delivery of the recommendations is divided into three broad time horizons: short term to 2030; medium term between 2030 and 2040; and longer-term goals between 2040 and 2050. The proposal to reinstate the railway between Lisburn and Antrim, enabling Belfast International Airport to be connected, has been classified as a short-term intervention by the review. That will certainly be welcomed by Members, particularly given tonight's debate.

While the recommendations provide an evidence-based framework to inform future investment in railways across the island, more work is needed to test the feasibility and affordability — the latter will be key — of the recommendations and to secure the necessary funding to take projects forward, taking into consideration wider infrastructure priorities. As Members know, the feasibility studies were funded out of the Union connectivity fund. I continue to work with the Department for Transport, Translink, Irish Rail and the National Transport Authority to consider the recommendations. That work included the preparation of a project prioritisation strategy that identified the rail interventions that could be well advanced or delivered over the next decade, up until 2035. I hope to publish that project prioritisation strategy later in the year.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I appreciate that. My officials are working closely with Translink. It undertook several feasibility studies, which were submitted to my Department in July. As I said, those additional studies were funded by the Union connectivity fund and include the Portadown to Armagh line, a new line from Portadown to Derry and the electrification of the line from Belfast to the border. As I said, I am considering Translink's recommendations, and I intend to publish a summary report later in the autumn. Given the scale of interventions and the magnitude of the transformation that is involved — we have talked about the Knockmore line being relatively simple to do, which is why it is one of the proposed short-term interventions — there will be significant challenges with and pressure on the overall finances. We need to explore all funding avenues. I will continue to do that by seeking support from Executive colleagues and by working with other jurisdictions, whether through the Shared Island Fund, the Union connectivity fund or whatever else is available to us. Members referred to the budgets that have been set. There is no doubt that Translink could do so much more if we were able to give it more budget. This year, I gave 33% of my overall capital budget to Translink, which is 86% of what it asked for. We are continually looking at how we can invest more. It is important to note that we have given Translink a capital budget of £1 billion over the past four years. While that may still not be enough, it is a significant part of my overall budget, and I hope that that shows my commitment to delivering and to working with Translink and others to do so. The other important thing that is relevant to the debate is that I have ring-fenced £1 million of my budget for this year to build on the momentum that was achieved in the feasibility studies for the all-island strategic rail review, which will include work on the Knockmore line. We have talked about the multi-year Budget. Future Budget decisions will be critical as we plan for bigger rail infrastructure projects. As I said earlier, we are considering the feasibility study for the reopening of the Knockmore line. We hope to publish the main outcomes of the study in the autumn, so I will be able to provide Members with further updates then. I continue to look forward to working with everyone on this. I recognise the significant importance of the Knockmore line not just to the people who represent the area but for wider connectivity across our island to ensure that all our regions are well served by a fully functioning rail network. That would achieve everything that we have set out to do, be that meeting our climate change targets, supporting our communities or achieving economic growth. I thank Members for the tone of the debate. Hopefully, we will see progress made in the near future.

1,337 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:16 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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