West=On=Track -News

Minister Cullen coy on west rail corridor decision

Sligo Weekender - 6th Sept 2005

The Minister for Transport was playing cagey on the future of the Western rail corridor during his visit to Sligo on Friday last.

Minister Cullen said in an interview at the opening of the new Inner Relief Road, that the rail project which would link Sligo with Galway was one of a number of proposals soon to come before him.

"I certainly haven't changed my position since we were down here at a major conference, finalising a ten year investment framework for transport for the entire country.

"The whole western rail issue is central to what we've been looking at. It has a lot of merit.

"We've had a lot of reports done on it. I'm finalising that at the moment and that project along with many, many others is being strongly considered."

He also responded to potential criticism of the lack of investment in infrastructure in the Border Midlands and Western region when compared to the East and South of the country.

"I consider myself a regional minister myself coming from the South East. I understand the problems within the (BMW) region.

If you look at the number of projects since I've come into the department that are going into the BMW region &endash; out of 19 new projects starting this year, half are in the BMW region &endash; that's a big step up than it was for the last few years."

And, while he acknowledged that investment in infrastructure in the BMW region is not what it should have been in the past, in recent years there has been a significant increase in funding, particularly in public transport, with the upgrading of the Sligo-Dublin line and the arrival of new rail carriages.