Sir, – With all the talk recently of congestion in Dublin, the M50 and the lack of balanced development across the island putting pressure on the capital, it is clear that something radical needs to be done to ensure the continued prosperity of the island for the remainder of the 21st century.
My proposal: use the €14 billion windfall from Apple to build a brand new high-speed rail line from Belfast to Cork via Dublin with intermediary stops at Dundalk, Dublin Airport and Kilkenny.
Such a high-speed rail spine would reimagine the spatial development of the island. A one-hour Dublin to Cork journey and a sub-one-hour journey from Dublin to Belfast would bring Ireland’s largest cities into a single integrated economic corridor, turning Dundalk and Kilkenny into major regional cities within a half-hour of Dublin on one side. On the other, Dundalk would be a half-hour from Belfast and Kilkenny, a half-hour from Cork.
A direct airport stop would connect the island’s main international gateway to every major region while reducing car dependence on the M1 and the chronically congested M50
RM Block
Based on the most up-to-date industry price projections per kilometre for such a large-scale project, the approximate 400km line would likely cost in the region of €14 billion-€18 billion. This is comparable to the €15 billion spent on building the world-class motorway network we have in the south from 2000 to 2010.
The €14 billion in Apple funds could provide the core financing. The section north of the Border would cost in the region of €1.5 billion-€2 billion, the funding for which would hopefully be provided by the UK government.
EU infrastructure funding could supplement the financing of the project south of the Border, leaving €1 billion-€2 billion of direct exchequer funding for a visionary project that would reimagine the island. This ambitious high-speed rail project would not replace, but complement the All-Island Strategic Rail Review’s programme of rail upgrades.
It would also add something that plan lacks: a future-proofed piece of infrastructure capable of supporting an integrated, sustainable all-island economy catering for the needs of our projected population of eight million people across the island by the 2050s.
To prepare for the challenges facing our island, we need to think big – and while the public finances are buoyant, the time is now. The alternative is that we let politics take over and we dilute the impact such an unprecedented cash windfall could have. – Yours, etc,
DAVID TRAYNOR,
Queens,
New York.
