Steve Bradley: Cup Final train gives early taste of what’s ahead

They will converge on Dublin from all directions by the proverbial planes, trains and automobiles. And it’s the second of those transport modes which will offer us a glimpse of what we previously had in abundance from this city, and will hopefully see again in the years ahead.

Valentine’s Day 1965 was the last time a regular train service ran from Derry’s former Foyle Road station to Dublin. That old ‘Derry Road’ route, as it was affectionately known, skirted the edge of Donegal along the West Bank of the Foyle before continuing on through Tyrone and Portadown to both Dublin and Belfast. Its removal severed an important transport link between the north-west and the island’s two largest cities, erased the last bit of rail from counties Tyrone and Donegal, and escalated Derry’s growing infrastructure isolation.

Sunday, November 8 will see a glimpse of what we’ve lost from here when a special ‘Candystripe Express’ train takes supporters from Waterside Station to Dublin.

It won’t be the first time such a service has run from here – having done so previously for the FAI Cup Finals in 2022 and 2024, and an All-Ireland gaelic football semi-final in 2023.

A special train even made the long journey between Derry and Cork for an FAI Cup quarter-final in 1987! But what will make this year’s service a little different is that it will occur in changed times.

2024 was ‘Year Zero’ for the future development of rail across this island, due to the launch of the All-Island Rail Strategy that Summer. That document took the first long-term, island-wide strategic overview of rail across Ireland. And whilst it did have its flaws, it also made a number of very clear recommendations for where rail should be restored – including the route from Foyleside to Portadown to enable direct trains from the north-west to Dublin again.

The strategy even declared that route as the most viable rail reopening anywhere on this island, with a predicted 3 million passengers a year (since revised to 4 million by Translink).

The All-Island Rail Strategy declared that the Portadown-route should be “prioritised over other new railways, as it delivers key intercity and regional objectives for this Review and it serves a relatively large population”.

This was the most positive statement about Derry’s infrastructure for years. And a restored direct rail link between Derry and Dublin (with an added spur to Letterkenny too) will be the single biggest infrastructure investment made in the centre of our city for over a century.

The importance of restoring rail between Derry and Portadown was echoed in 2025 when that route was added to NI’s 5 major rail prioritisation projects (though it should be noted that it was initially left off that list until Into The West highlighted the absurdity of its exclusion).

So it is no longer a question of ‘if’ Derry and the north-west will ever regain a direct rail connection to Dublin, it is now a question of ‘when’.

That, however, is where the problems arise. Because despite the All-Island Strategy stating clearly that Derry-Portadown should be the island’s priority reopening, it is instead bottom of the priority list in NI – with a projected completion date of 2050 at the earliest.

Stormont and the current Infrastructure Minister are placing more importance on other rail reopenings East of the Bann, even though they will have far fewer users.

So the talk that’s in the rail strategy and the walk that’s in the corridors of power are completely out of step when it comes to reopening Derry-Portadown.

Into The West is the rail campaign for counties Derry, Donegal, Tyrone and Fermanagh. We believe it is unacceptable that a key piece of infrastructure like the Derry-Portadown rail line is being pushed into the second-half of this century – needlessly holding back Derry’s development for decades to come, whilst leaving yet another generation in Donegal and Tyrone without rail.

We see no reason why this project can’t be expedited to a stage where work begins within a decade from now. The only thing realistically stopping that is not money – it’s political will. Because there is always money available for pet political projects, particularly when they’re in Belfast and the East of the Bann.

When the Candystripe Express pulls out of Derry’s Waterside station on Sunday-week it will be the first train between the north-west and Dublin in the last two years. It will also offer a brief glimpse of the kind of infrastructure future which we all long to see.

What awaits our region in the years ahead is the prize of a direct rail link to the island’s two main cities and its main economic and tourism hubs.

The day will indeed return when travelling directly to Dublin for a football game – or for any other reason – will no longer require special trains with limited seats that operate as a novelty act every couple of years. Instead we will have trains running to Dublin every hour of every day, with a total journey time of approx. 3 hours. Because basic infrastructure in the North-West should be for life, and not just for cup finals.

If you want to see that vision of a better future for our city and region, then believe it will happen and demand that the work to deliver it is accelerated. Let’s ensure that next week’s Candystripe Express is just an early taste of the enhanced infrastructure that lies ahead for the North-West.