Further movement towards the re-opening of the Armagh to Portadown rail link is expected “in the coming months”.
For years, campaigners have been fighting to bring rail travel back to the city, which was removed from the network in the 1950s when the last trains rolled out.
An all-island strategic rail review recommended that the re-opening of the line should be seen as a priority — and that it was certainly capable of being delivered.
Driving the campaign for more than a decade has been the Portadown Armagh Railway Society (PARS).
Last October, an £800,000 feasibility study was underway, following the completion of a technical study in 2022.
The all-island rail review was published early last year.
The most significant local recommendation within that detailed document was the adjustment of the timeline to bring forward the reinstatement of the railway between Portadown and Armagh from a long-term to a medium-term horizon.
This, in effect, meant that the local line had an anticipated delivery date between 2030 and 2040.
Upper Bann MLA Eoin Tennyson has now pressed Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins on the potential re-opening, asking her to “detail the actions” her Department has taken to “progress” the recommendations contained within the rail review report.
She confirmed that a draft prioritisation report is expected to be made public “later this year”, with details of several feasibility studies — including Portadown to Armagh — due “in the coming months”.
Minister Kimmins, in response to Mr Tennyson’s question, explained: “The Department of Transport has secured support from the European Investment Bank (EIB) Advisory Services to help progress implementation of the rail review’s recommendations.
“With the assistance of EIB consultants, my officials are working with colleagues in the Department of Transport, Translink, Irish Rail, and the National Transport Authority to consider the review’s recommendations.
“This work has included the preparation of a Project Prioritisation Strategy, which identifies those rail interventions that could be well advanced or delivered over the next decade to 2035.
“The EIB consultant team are currently focused on conducting a more detailed analysis of key major projects. Following completion of this work, the draft Project Prioritisation Strategy — which has been broadly agreed by the project steering group — will be reviewed and published later this year.
“My officials are also working closely with Translink, who are undertaking several feasibility studies linked to recommendations in the rail review, which are due to report in the coming months.
“These include studies on re-opening the Lisburn–Antrim line, with a link to Belfast International Airport; reinstating the Portadown–Armagh line; a new line from Portadown to Derry; and electrification of the Belfast to the border route.
“The outcomes from these studies and the work with our southern colleagues will help inform my prioritisation of projects to progress as funding opportunities arise.”
Recommendations to consider constructing a direct line between Lisburn and Newry — which would provide rail services in Banbridge — are further down the pecking order.
While also mooted in the all-island strategic review, much more work needs to be done, according to the Minister, again responding to a separate question from Upper Bann MLA Eoin Tennyson.
The rail review recommended consideration be given to developing a new railway line from Belfast to Newry via Hillsborough, Dromore, and Banbridge, with connections to the Lisburn–Antrim line and towards Portadown.
Minister Kimmins said: “This has been identified as a long-term intervention by the review — i.e., to be delivered between 2040 and 2050. However, more work is needed to test the feasibility and affordability of the review’s recommendations, determine an optimum sequencing for the delivery of projects, and secure the necessary funding to take projects forward.
“The Department is continuing to work with colleagues in the Department of Transport, Translink, Iarnród Éireann and the NTA to consider the recommendations in the review and develop a plan for implementation. I will then need to consider which projects to prioritise as funding opportunities become available.”
The Minister’s predecessor and Sinn Féin party colleague, Upper Bann MLA John O’Dowd, met with representatives of the PARS group last year and offered his support for a local link.
Such a project would, he said, “support economic growth in Armagh and tackle climate change”.
PARS chairman William Hutchinson — speaking to Armagh I after a delegation met Mr O’Dowd — said: “We really wanted to stress that, in our campaigning, we’re ahead of the all-island strategic review. We don’t want to be put back in the melting pot, to start the race again.
“We wanted to make it clear that the Armagh project was well ahead of many other projects mentioned in that review. We need to keep momentum for the work that has been put in to date, which is substantial.”
