Western Rail Corridor funding derailed

Last Friday's one-day conference on the Western Rail Corridor (WRC) held in Castlebar had most, if not all commentators convinced that the government was finally about to make a solid commitment on its financial support for the reopening of the WRC. The day certainly had all the trappings that you would expect, with the issuing of a major announcement of government financial support.

Attending on behalf of the government were Ministers Cullen and Ó Cuív, who both joined the 250-strong crowd of elected representatives, media affiliates, community groups, members of several Integrated Resource Development groups and Chambers of Commerce from throughout the Connacht region and beyond, along with An Taoiseach's own advisor, Martin Mansergh.

The conference was designed to debate the viability of the reopening of the WRC from Collooney to Ennis and a major sequence in the day's events was Transport minister Martin Cullen's response to the finished report of a working group set up by the current government to assess the viability of the western rail network. Expectation was high and few in the hall believed that there could be any other outcome than Minister Cullen announcing a timeframe for the reopening of the track.

What followed was no more than yet another stalling exercise from the FF/PD government. Far from building on the Taoiseach's declaration in the Dáil last March that the coalition was to commit funds to the western line, Minister Cullen appeared to row back from his leader's promise. The long and short of the minister's speech was that he was not prepared to announce any such funding and that the money being looked for would probably be included in the capital envelope for a ten-year transport plan, the details of which are due to be published sometime in June.

Not surprisingly, Cullen admitted that he had not read the ten-page McCann Report, which examined the feasibility of the WRC from four different perspectives. What is worrying about this latest stalling tactic by the government is that all expert reports on the future success of the WRC are extremely positive. Dr Paul Salveson, international expert on rail and member of the Association Community of Rail Partnerships, said after inspecting the line, that if such a line existed in Britain, it would be deemed extremely viable. The West on Track group stand by their figures that guarantee the success potential of the line. After the conference, a West on Track representative summed up the feeling of attendees when he said that enough "positive noises" have been heard, what is now needed is "concrete results".

If last Friday in Castlebar showed us anything, it is that no one can now be in any doubt of the broad spectrum of support that the opening up of the western rail network has. It also showed that the McCann Report was nowhere near explicit enough and that despite soundings to the contrary, the present FF/PD government is in no hurry to develop the west to its full potential.