West=On=Track -News

Time for Phase 2 of Western Rail Corridor to Proceed

Press Release Wednesday December 22nd 2010 

The West on Track campaign has called on the Government to commit funding to proceed with the second phase of the Western Rail Corridor before the General Election.

“It is now nearly four months since funding was announced for the planning and design of the Athenry-Tuam phase of the project and we are aware that this work has been under way for some time,” said a spokesman for West on Track.

“However, there is no logical reason why this should take a year given that the railway in question is acknowledged by Iarnród Éireann to be a straightforward engineering project.”

“We welcome today’s statement of support for the project from Minister Éamon Ó Cuív, but it is now essential for the Government to back this up with the necessary funding in order to have work under way before the General Election to avoid the danger of the project becoming a political football and to convince people that the project is in fact being taken seriously.”

Asked if this meant that people would expect to see diggers and workmen on the ground in Athenry and Tuam before the election the spokesman replied, “Yes.”