Stormont excluded from decision-making on new £5m rail projects for Northern Ireland.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/stormont-excluded-from-decision-making-on-new-5m-rail-projects-for-northern-ireland/a1816042586.html

The Department for Infrastructure and Translink have both said Westminster was the lone decision-maker for new rail projects in Northern Ireland.
It follows criticism from campaigners that the totality of the £4.8m funding package announced to improve rail connectivity will be spent east of the Bann.

In response to Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill’s independent Union Connectivity Review, the UK Department for Transport revealed a funding package saying a “well-connected transport system provides the foundation” for achieving “sustainable growth and spread opportunity right across the country”.

It added: “This work will put us, devolved administrations and local and regional partners in a strong position to assess which schemes could deliver the greatest benefits to people and businesses across the UK, informing future investment decisions about which could be progressed in the long term.”

However, in Northern Ireland, far from connecting the entire country, all funding went to the east and bypassed the west which is known to have a historic infrastructural deficit.

It was decided that £3.3m would be given to Translink to deliver a study on the cost, feasibility and value for money of electrification of the railway in Northern Ireland from Belfast to border

That Translink would deliver a £700,000 feasibility study on reopening the Antrim-Lisburn railway line, with an additional stop at Belfast International Airport

In addition, £800,000 will be used by Translink to deliver a feasibility study on reinstating the Portadown to Armagh railway line

The Into the West rail lobby group was outraged by these plans saying it showed “institutional bias” from Stormont and Translink.

In 2022 the Union Connectivity Review completed its work and published its report – which included three recommendations regarding Northern Ireland.

Two of the three recommendations specifically called for better rail services to Derry, and the overall report repeatedly highlighted the poor level of rail connectivity to the north-west and Enniskillen.

It was to agree with the NI Executive a plan and funding to upgrade the railway on the NI rail corridor, including better connectivity to the three airports and seaports, and to and from Belfast and Derry, and examine the potential to reopen closed lines

Furthermore, it was to “provide funding and major project expertise to the Northern Ireland Executive to support their work with the Republic of Ireland relating to the All Island Strategic Rail Review and its implementation, including connectivity between Belfast and Dublin, between Derry/Londonderry and North West Ireland, and to and from the three airports and the seaports”.

Into The West Chair, Steve Bradley, said transport is a devolved matter in NI.

He added: “It is inexplicable how anyone could look at the three recommendations the Union Connectivity Review made about Northern Ireland and refuse to allocate anything to projects in the north-west.

“The report could not have been clearer about the fact that Derry is poorly served by rail and that its connectivity must be improved.

“The report was also very clear that the key Northern Ireland corridor for rail is the Derry – Belfast-Newry-Dublin route, and made no mention at all of either Portadown or Armagh – which is part of neither the proposed UKNET nor the Northern Ireland Rail Corridor within it, yet is still receiving UCR funding.

“To be clear – Into The West fully supports the restoration of rail to Armagh, so in no way are we opposing that decision.

“We are just highlighting the major disconnect between the funding allocated under the UCR process and what was in the UCR report. And we are asking for that disconnect to now be addressed.”

Both the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) and Translink have made clear they had no input when it came to deciding on funding.

A spokesperson from the Department for Infrastructure said: “Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill was asked by the UK Government to examine the quality and availability of transport infrastructure within the UK and where future investment should be targeted.

“His independent Union connectivity review was published in November 2021 and made a number of recommendations. The UK Government responded to the Review in December 2023.

“The response included the identification of priority actions to support UK transport connectivity, including policy changes and the provision of targeted funding to kickstart the development of projects.

“The Department for Infrastructure was not the decision maker in relation to any of these funding decisions.”

Meanwhile, Translink said it is committed to maintaining and improving connectivity to the north-west.

“We are already currently progressing a feasibility study and strategic programme for enhancing capacity and line speed on the existing Belfast to Derry~Londonderry rail line,” a spokesperson continued.

“This is being funded by the Department for Infrastructure and therefore was not part of the current Union Connectivity funding process.

“Funding for Union Connectivity studies is decided by the Department for Transport (DfT)”.

DfT was contacted for comment.

by Browns_right_foot