Vol. 566 No. 1
569 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Transport the discussions he has had in relation to the possibility of a Dublin-Derry railway line; if an analysis has been done on the feasibility of such a project; and his views on the development of an all-Ireland rail network. [11889/03]
The recently published strategic rail review, SRR, provides the Government with the policy framework for the future development of passenger and freight rail services in Ireland. The review process took into account numerous rail proposals in more than 150 submissions received as part of the public consultation process of the SRR. However, no proposals were received regarding the possibility of a direct Dublin-Derry route. I have had no discussions with regard to the development of such a service and am not aware of any feasibility work undertaken on it.
I am committed to the development of fullest co-operation between the rail services, North and South. With this in mind, the consultants who undertook the work of the review met officials from Northern Ireland Rail and the Department for Regional Development to ensure that Northern Ireland's current rail development plans were considered and taken into account when developing the SRR 20 year policy framework.
