O’Dowd says ‘Derry Road’ rail link to Portadown will have 200kmp/h track speed

Transcript

00:00 For Derry and for Manor, the west deserves accessible rail provision, hourly Sunday services,

00:07 stops at City of Derry Airport, Ballykillie and Strathfoyle. Minister Mallin expanded on the

00:15 New Decade New Approach commitment to high-speed cross-border connectivity to include the north-west,

00:22 but bizarrely the draft report that has come forward excluded the Derry Port of Downline

00:28 from the 200km/h rail speeds, condemning the route to the lowest rail speed on the island.

00:36 This needs addressed in the final strategy. High-speed rail is the key to durability and

00:43 success, making it a more attractive mode of transport for everyone. The drawn-out wrangling

00:50 around phase 3 to Coleraine needs commencement and completion. We have remained consistent

01:00 and persistent in our desire to see delivery on these perpetually postponed rail improvements

01:08 to the north's second city. Nicola Mallin put this project back on track after it hit a hazard,

01:16 shall we say. She secured the feasibility study. It is long past the time that we end

01:22 Derry's status as the most isolated station in the Northern Ireland rail network. This will help

01:28 tackle regional imbalance and will steer the whole region on course towards a brighter future.

01:35 I call on the Minister to give immediate sign-off on the feasibility study and the

01:41 funding required and promised to see its delivery. It is due to start in 2025 and

01:50 for completion in 2027. We cannot afford more slip each year.

01:55 Some of the key recommendations and interventions in respect of the north include decarbonisation

02:01 of the rail network, including electrification of the Belfast Dublin line, frequency, speed and

02:07 capacity improvements on the Belfast Dublin and Belfast Derry lines, new lines from Belfast to

02:13 Newry and Port Adair to Derry. To clarify on Mr Durkan's comment in relation to the speed of the

02:19 Port Adair to Derry connection, it is planned for that rail network to have a 200km/h

02:28 speed on it, so it is a high-speed connection. As I say, new lines from Belfast, Newry and Port

02:35 Adair to Derry, cross-border routes from Derry to Leicester County and Port Adair to Mullingar.

02:39 The Department has in recent years invested over £100 million in major rail projects in

02:45 the north-west. That includes phase 1 and 2 of the Coldrain to Derry track relay project, totalling

02:52 over £70 million, as well as the north-west multimodal transport hub, amounting to over £27

02:58 million. However, I accept that more can be done, and that is why my Department approved the

03:03 business case for phase 3 of the Coldrain to Derry project in November 2022, and made available over

03:09 £97 million to Transdeck to take this project forward.