Exciting 'Metro North-West' Rail initiative launched

RAIL campaigners ‘Into The West’ have launched an ambitious new proposal to radically improve rail across the North-West of the Island.

Branded as ‘Metro North-West’, their idea takes the existing rail network that runs between Derry, Coleraine and Portrush, expands it in ways that are already progressing following the All-Island Rail Strategy (ie with routes re-opened to Strabane, Omagh, Letterkenny and Limavady) and then enhances it further by adding a number of new stations – some of which are already under consideration - for example, Strathfoyle, Sion Mills and City of Derry Airport.

This would create a new regional rail ‘brand’ operating within and alongside the wider rail network.

Stretching from Letterkenny in the west to Coleraine/Portrush in the east and Omagh in the south, with all services converging in and travelling via the city.

This new regional sub-network has been christened ‘Metro North-West’, and envisages a greatly enhanced passenger experience for rail users, including:

1: Services every 30mins, seven days a week, from 7am to at least 11pm.

2: A ‘Pay As you Go’ system (with tap in, tap out payment).

3: Ticketing and timetables integrated with local bus networks.

4: Improved on-board cycle space.

"Fully electrified routes/trains (for quicker, cleaner and quieter journeys.

The idea takes its inspiration from similar ‘Metro’ networks which have recently been introduced in England and Wales.

These networks take existing rail services, improve them in obvious ways, and then re-brand them into coherent new regional sub-networks - often without requiring major sums of money to get started.

They continue to operate within and alongside their wider rail network, but also have their own distinct regionalised identity and branding.

The Welsh government introduced three such networks last year within the wider Transport for Wales network = North Wales Metro (connecting Wrexham, Bangor and Holyhead), South Wales Metro (linking Cardiff, Newport and the Welsh Valleys), and the West Wales Metro (connecting Swansea, Carmarthen and Milford Haven).

The largest population centre covered by the North Wales Metro is the Wrexham Borough Council area – which with 135,000 residents is smaller than the Derry City and Strabane District Council area.

Meanwhile in England a ‘Mid-Cornwall Metro’ has also been established using the same principle - taking existing services, improving them in sensible ways, and branding and promoting them as a single regional network within the wider rail system.

The largest town served by this new Mid-Cornwall Metro is Newquay, who’s population of 24,500 is almost identical to Coleraine.

Into The West are promoting the Metro North-West concept as an essential solution to the challenges that Omagh, Strabane and other towns across the region are facing – such as poor connectivity, growing road congestion and economic underdevelopment.

Chair of Into The West, Steve Bradley, explained: “When people hear the word ‘Metro’, they probably think of expensive and complicated networks like the London Underground.

“But that’s not what the Metro North-West proposal is about.

"Instead it’s an exciting and relatively low-cost way to tackle a number of key challenges facing towns across this region.

"Firstly it seeks to address the extremely limited presence of rail here, and the slow progress in changing that.

"The 2024 All-Island Rail Strategy agreed rail should return to Omagh, Strabane, Dungannon, Limavady and Letterkenny.

“And there is also growing recognition that a network of commuter rail stations is needed throughout the north-west to make it easier to travel without always having to drive.

"The problem is that these projects have been made Translink and the Department for Infrastructure’s lowest priorities – with the Strabane, Omagh and Dungannon reopenings not scheduled until 2045 at the earliest.

"So the first key challenge is to not only tackle the poor rail provision across the north-west, but also the low priority that the authorities have placed on doing so.

"Secondly, towns in this region face significant challenges which Metro North-West would help address.

"Derry and Letterkenny suffer from significant road congestion, which will only get worse with time.

“Meanwhile the poor connectivity across Tyrone is suppressing economic and population growth in Omagh and Strabane, and cutting the towns off from the growing tourism sector in Derry and the North Coast.

"Metro North-West would therefore significantly improve access into and around the entire north-west region - providing an alternative way to travel for work, study, health, entertainment, tourism or sport.

"Finally, Metro North-West aims to completely change the conversation about transport across this island.

"At the moment decision makers on both sides of the border think that infrastructure is primarily about getting people to and from Belfast or Dublin.

"That ignores the huge amount of travel that occurs daily within the North-West City Region, including on a cross-border basis.

"We need to alter the mindset that everything must always be about Belfast or Dublin, and instead recognise that this region has significant internal journeys which generate problems on our roads and impact our economy because they can’t be fulfilled by pubic transport”.

Mr Bradley continued: “The Metro North-West concept aims to tackle these challenges by creating a new localised and meaningful ‘brand’ for rail across our region.

"The concept starts with the limited rail that already exists here, expands it in ways that have already been agreed in the All-Ireland Rail Strategy, and then enhances it further by adding additional stops – some of which are already under consideration, and some like Sion Mils, Newtownstewart and Portstewart are new proposals.

"The concept takes its inspiration from similar Metro networks in places like Wales and Cornwall, which cover regions with similar or smaller populations than ours.

"If Cornwall can justify a branded Metro network when its largest town is not much bigger than Omagh, then why wouldn’t a similar system also work here?

"Because much of the Metro North-West concept is about branding, frequency and additional stations - with the rest of its proposals taking advantage of rail improvements already due to progress anyway - it doesn’t require huge sums of additional funding beyond what is already planned.

"What it does do instead is create a reason to expedite those plans - and ensure that projects in the North-West receive a higher priority within the island’s transport plans.

"Because every individual improvement to rail here will no longer be able to be treated as an isolated project, but instead as another core piece of the much larger Metro North-West jigsaw."

Saturday, February 14, marked the 61st anniversary of the closure of the old ‘Derry Road’ rail route from the city to Portadown via Strabane, Omagh and Dungannon.

It’s closure removed Tyrone’s direct rail link with both Belfast and Dublin, and erased the county’s last pieces of rail.

Both the Metro North-West concept and the All-Island Rail Strategy propose restoring this much-missed route.

Into The West have created a short video to help explain and promote the Metro North-West concept, which can be viewed on their website at: www.IntoTheWest.org/MetroNorthWest.

They are also holding a series of public meetings across the region to discuss Metro North-West, the All-Island Rail Strategy and the case for better rail in Tyrone, Derry and Donegal.

The Strabane meeting will take place on Monday, February 23 at 7pm in Strabane Library on Railway Street.

The Strule Arts Centre will host a meeting the following evening at the same time, Tuesday, February 24.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the Metro North-West concept and the campaign to restore and improve rail throughout the region is encouraged to attend these free meetings.