A RAIL link between Limerick City and Shannon Airport has moved a step closer after the publishing of the All-Island Strategic Rail Review this week.
Support for the long-awaited rail link has been included in the final report of the All-Island Strategic Rail Review, which sets out a vision for the development of the rail network across the island of Ireland over the coming decades.
Rail links are proposed for three airports – Dublin, Belfast, and Shannon – which would see 90 per cent of commercial flyers able to reach their flight by train.
The report also sets out ideas for a suburban rail link for Limerick, which could see additional train stations built throughout the county to increase rail connectivity.
The report estimates that the capital cost of implementing all of the recommendations by 2050 would be between €35billion and €37billion in 2023 prices.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said that the publication of the rail review marked an “important day for island of Ireland”.
“This is not just the first All-Island Strategic Rail Review, it is the most ambitious vision for rail in a century, bringing us forward to a new age of rail. This vision has been made possible by close cooperation between the Departments and agencies north and south,” the Minister said.
The Transport Minister added that “rail not only allows us to carry more people and freight in a more sustainable way, it is the great connector, enabling greater regional accessibility and balanced regional development”.
He said that the new strategy “provides a long-term vision and a series of recommendations for the sustainable development of the rail network on the island”.
Nationally, the report recommends adding more capacity on rail services, upgrading the existing single-track layout to double-track, and even four-track layouts in some areas, faster services with 200 kilometre per hour intercity trains, hourly services on certain routes, and the electrification of Ireland’s rail network.
The report was carried out by the Department of Transport and Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure, with both jurisdictions aiming to work together to deliver on the recommendations of the report over the next few decades.
