West=On=Track -News

West on Track welcomes Commencement of Relaying of Western Rail Corridor

Press Release 16th November 2007 

The Minister for Transport, Mr. Noel Dempsey TD, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Mr. Éamon O'Cuív TD and the Chairman of CIÉ and Iarnród Éireann, Dr John Lynch will attend at a Press Event at Craughwell Level Crossing today to mark the commencement of track work on the first phase of the Western Rail Corridor, between Limerick and Galway.

Representatives of the West on Track Community Campaign from Clare, Galway, Mayo and Sligo and Local Government representatives will also be present.

Commending Iarnród Éireann and the Government, a spokesman for West on Track said that the announcement is another welcome indication that the Government is intent on pressing ahead with the WRC project as part of the Transport 21 programme.

"West on Track warmly welcomes the formal announcement today at Craughwell Level Crossing, Co. Galway, by Mr. Noel Dempsey T.D., Minister for Transport, of the commencement of relaying work on Phase One of the Western Rail Corridor from Ennis to Athenry. As part of Transport 21, the Western Rail Corridor project will see the largest re-opening of a railway in the history of the state and the most significant infrastructural development in the entire western region for generations."

"Iarnród Éireann is to be warmly congratulated for the professional and speedy manner in which it is progressing the project. Already two miles of the new railway are in place along with a host of other engineering and preparatory works. Direct rail services between Limerick and Galway will begin running by 2009 upon completion of the euro106.5 million redevelopment of the Ennis-Athenry line, the first stage of the wider Western Rail Corridor project under Transport 21."