Madam, - Recent media coverage has highlighted how the provision of railway infrastructure in Ireland seems to be based on political expediency rather than merit.
It is ludicrous that the Western Rail Corridor (WRC) is likely to attract only 750 passengers a day, considering that the project to reinstate the 234km line from Sligo to Ennis is expected to cost around €580 million.
Effectively, the railway project which has been dubbed "the biggest railway reopening in the State's history" will not see enough passengers a day to fill a single Intercity train.
Before the Minister for Transport wastes more than half a billion euro to move 750 people from Limerick to Sligo daily, I would ask him to reconsider another project that could move thousands of commuters in and out of Dublin within months and which would cost less than one tenth of that of reinstating the Western Rail Corridor.
An upgrade of the Navan railway line to Dublin via Drogheda would cost only €54 million.
If the Minister cannot see the need to reinstate the Navan-Clonsilla line immediately as a priority under Transport 21, then maybe he could at least reconsider a Navan-Drogheda line upgrade to facilitate passenger trains from Navan by mid-2007. - Yours, etc,
PROINSIAS MAC FHEARGHUSA, Meath on Track, Navan, Co Meath.