Train ambitions derailed

The Celtic Tiger has come and gone without the re-opening of the Mullingar-Athlone rail line, or the dormant train station at Killucan - despite a groundswell of public demand.Those who have campaigned for the re-opening of the link are amazed that the two towns have not been linked by train, since the line was closed in 1987.The project - which had a price tag of €154m following a Government rail review in 2003 - was not included in the Transport 21 programme, but public enthusiasm was not fazed.Moves were then made to encourage Westmeath County Council to apply for funding under the Gateway Innovation Fund, but County Manager, Danny McLoughlin explained that the proposals for the line failed to meet three of the criteria for the government fund.With twenty percent local funding required, it appears that the economic downturn has made the re-opening of the line in the near future highly unlikely.Meanwhile, in Killucan, there has been much public support for a renewed Irish Rail station at Killucan. The local transport lobby group has done sterling work in collecting a plethora of facts and figures, in order to market Killucan as an ideal location to serve rail commuters living in the greater Mullingar East area, Kinnegad, north Westmeath and areas of south Meath.To date, Central Government has demonstrated little or no support for the project, with Transport Minister Noel Dempsey's hands seemingly tied officially by the absence of funding, and unofficially by calls to open a similar station nearby at the Hill of Down, which is in the Minister's own constituency.There have been proposals to meet Irish Rail halfway by generating private funding, but whether or not this will materialise, will surely depend on an economic revival.