Eoin Ó Broin calls for high speed rail from Derry to Dublin that would take 1.5hrs

Sinn Féin T.D. Eoin Ó Broin suggested a European-standard line between Derry and the capital would transform the economic prospects of the entire north west region.

He asked the outgoing Transport Minister, Shane Ross, whether his department was considering a high speed connection through Meath, Cavan, Monaghan and Tyrone during a debate on climate action. Deputy Ó Broin, supporting calls for a link between Dublin and Navan, asked if Deputy Ross would consider going a step further.

“There is a much more ambitious project, which would take a rail line not only through Navan but on to Derry city, opening the entire north west, that may be more financially viable under the metrics the Government operates, and be of significant service to the people in that region...Is his Department considering the bigger project of having a rail line not only through Navan but up to one of the largest cities in the country, Derry?”

The Minister, who may not be in position for much longer if the programme for government negotiated by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party is endorsed by the respective party memberships, was unable to answer the question because he ran out of time. But the idea of a high speed rail link was suggested earlier this year by the data analyst and accountant Peter Donaghy.

Mr. Donaghy, blogging as the Salmon of Data, wrote on the Slugger O’Toole blog in March, that the development would address regional economic inequality and the housing crisis facing the greater Dublin area.

“A tunnel would link Dublin Connolly to Dublin Airport, and from there the route would take in Ashbourne, Navan and Kells in County Meath, Virginia in County Cavan, Clones in County Monaghan, Omagh and Strabane in County Tyrone, Letterkenny in County Donegal and finally the city of Derry,” he suggested.

Mr. Donaghy said trains capable of running at 300 kilometres per hour would take 95 minutes to get from Derry to Dublin. It would take 10 minutes to get from Derry to Letterkenny.

“In terms of costs, recent high speed rail schemes in Europe have varied between €15-16m/km in Belgium, €4.7-23m in France and €7.8-20m in Spain; the extremely high costs per kilometre of HS2 in the UK aren’t an appropriate comparison due to the high costs of building railway lines in the London area.

“Allowing a figure towards the top of these ranges (€20m/km), and allowing €1.2bn for the costs of tunnelling between central Dublin and the airport, a back-of-the envelope estimate for the 240km scheme would be around €6bn. Around 32 per cent of the route would be through Northern Ireland,” wrote Mr. Donaghy.

Under the proposed programme for government the potential coalition partners have said they will “commission an economic evaluation of higher speed rail links between our main cities”.