LETTERKENNY has become the largest town in the Ireland without any plan for rail, a local campaign group has warned, with Donegal accused of being “left behind” as the rest of the island races ahead with rail investment.
Campaign group Into The West raised the alarm this week after the recent publication of a route plan for restoring rail to Navan left Letterkenny as the only major town on the island without a rail strategy, despite a Letterkenny-Derry link being a key recommendation of the 2024 All-Island Rail Strategy.
Chair Steve Bradley said the situation was unacceptable given the town’s growth and connectivity needs.
“Letterkenny is now the largest town without any plan for rail. That just isn’t good enough, and is evidence of how Donegal is being left behind,” he said.
“The last time a train visited Letterkenny was 1953, when only 4,000 people lived there. Now Letterkenny is one of the fastest-growing large towns on this island, with a population expected to approach 30,000 by 2040,” he said.
Bradley pointed to stark comparisons with other regions. The Western Rail Corridor extension from Athenry to Claremorris, covering 53km, is due to reopen within the decade, yet Letterkenny’s proposed 34km link to Derry has not even reached feasibility stage. He noted that Letterkenny’s population alone exceeds the combined populations of Castlebar and Ballina, while Derry is larger than either Galway or Limerick.
The cross-border dimension makes the absence of rail particularly acute. Bradley highlighted that 38% of all cross-border trips on the island occur between north-east Donegal and Derry daily, with the vast majority made by private car due to the lack of rail and limited bus services.
“Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital is the designated Cancer Centre for Donegal, and 40% of City of Derry Airport passengers travel to or from Donegal, yet almost all those journeys rely on private cars,” said Steve Bradley.
Into The West is calling on the Irish Government to use the Shared Island Fund to immediately commission a feasibility study into restoring rail to Letterkenny. The group has also written to Donegal’s councillors, TDs and MEPs urging them to lobby Dublin on the issue without delay.