I would be at my happiest if one day I could witness the sight of a railway and a train making its way into any part of Donegal, So why does it frustrate me so much when I hear people talking about connecting up the Northwest of Ireland with a railway.
It’s going to be the big Green thing of the future to get people to travel by rail and not by road! How green will the building of a railway into Donegal be if no one is travelling on it. Parking up this phantom green train on a siding for a while, can we look at what we’ve got here as it is.
Network
On Monday evening this week I followed the Galway to Derry express in its final journey back from Letterkenny. It was a cold winter’s night and even though this was a 2021 bus it was covered in the grime of gritted roads of six counties Galway, Mayo, Sligo, a wee bit of Leitrim, Donegal and Derry on its 350 miles return journey.
As it pulled into Letterkenny at the very end of its run at 11 minutes past 10 three passengers emerged from the bus before it backed up to the refuelling bay to get washed up and fuelled up for the following day’s run.
The Galway to Derry Express arriving at its last stop for the day back in Letterkenny. Photo Brian McDaid.
Earlier that day I was on a trip to Belfast in my own car and on the journey up and down I couldn’t help but notice how many Northern Ireland Express buses (Goldline) were on the road from. As we arrived into Derry I watched one of these busses which was pretty much with us the whole journey from Belfast. As it headed over the top tier of Craigavon Bridge over the River Foyle it was then that I noticed a Bus Eireann express make its way along the Foyle Embankment on the other side of the river.
It was 6.30 PM in the evening as the Derry to Galway Bus Eireann went under the Craigavon bridge, the gold liner express from Belfast to Derry crossed the path albeit from a tier above it. Both of these buses were heading and departing for Foyle Street Station but both of these had missed each other for passengers that were traveling by bus from Belfast and were hoping to travel onward by bus on the Derry to Galway express.
The Galway to Derry Express pictured arriving Foyle Road Station in Derry. Photo Brian McDaid.
The Galway Express stopped briefly at the border in Killea to drop off passengers as I passed the bus Eireann express which had now replaced the Ulsterbus Goldline that was sharing the road on my journey home from Belfast to Letterkenny.
Seeing these two buses cross each other’s paths on their way to their arrival and departure point at Foyle Road Station without each other’s passengers, granted being on two different bus services being unable to make a connecting journey by changing over to each other’s buses.
Being from Donegal and intending to use public transport from Letterkenny to Belfast, it’s common knowledge that part of this journey 20 odd miles will need to be done by car to catch the UlsterBus from Derry to Belfast and on this day is as good a reason as any that we decided to travel by private transport rather than depend on connection of two different bus company to complete our journey.
The Belfast to Derry Train arriving in Derry with Donegal registered cars in the car park to complete the final leg of the journey by road. Photo Brian McDaid.
Arriving in Letterkenny that evening I got a message to pick up a parcel in Newtowncunningham and on my way back the road I had come I met another Express Bus Eireann on the road out of Derry heading for Letterkenny. A quick look at the Northern Ireland transport timetables got the better of me and decided to return to Derry that night to settle a theory of how these cross border bus and rail companies could benefit transport in Donegal.
The Galway to Derry Express arriving into Letterkenny Photo Brian Mc Daid.
Four Train Stations
At one time there was four train stations in Derry, two on each side of the River Foyle. On the waterside was the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, and the Londonderry Extension Railway, and on the city side was the Great Northern Railway and the Lough Swilly Railway, now there is only the one, the Translink Northern Ireland Railway.
When in Derry that night I headed back across the Craigavon Bridge to the newly refurbished old station that once was for the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, they have made a beautiful job of this old station with loads of parking and bus bays right outside it.
A view of the restored building of the old station now NorthWest Transport Hub in Derry. Photo Brian McDaid.
While capturing a few photos I got the feeling as a few taxis had arrived at the rank that it wouldn’t be long until the Belfast to Derry train would be arriving. Sure enough up the line the lights of the train in the winter darkness could be seen as the train slowly made its way to the end of the line and came to a stop at the waterside station.
The Belfast to Derry Train arriving at the Northwest Transport Hub in Derry this week. Photo Brian McDaid.
After I had taken a few photos of the train sitting in the station and imagined would I ever see a train in Donegal, I was distracted when yet another Bus Eireann made its way along the Foyle Embankment on the other side of the river. I got into my car and headed back across the river to the Foyle Rd Station where the Derry to Galway express cut a lonely look sitting at the station at 9.30pm that night.
It was in Derry on Monday night that the potential this bus service that runs for the railway station in Galway and ends across the river from the Northern Ireland Railway in Derry has. What if this service started and finished at the railway in Derry which would only add a mile or so into the 170 mile one-way journey and would also call at the Bus Station on the Foyle Road as normal.
What better way to have a ‘live’ survey of the possibilities for a rail network in Donegal by looking at the passengers that use this expressway from Derry to Galway which link up with three railway stations at each end in Derry and Galway and one smack in the middle in Sligo.
Look at possibilities for making it possible for people along this express transport service to buy a single ticket that could take you by both bus and rail to the other side of the country to Belfast from Derry, to Dublin from Sligo or Galway with very little adjustment to the timing of this bus service going to the rail station in Derry in time for a morning train and one of the buses at night to take passengers home.
New Fleet
It was great to see Bus Eireann putting a new fleet of buses in this route along the West and Northwest of Ireland, unfortunately what they replaced were 15-year-old buses that were noisy and worn out. For most, people still think that these buses haven’t changed because the branding looks much the same.
Donegal people who needed to get to Dublin, Galway or Belfast all know as much about McGinley’s, O’Donnell or Gallagher’s, all of whom are local Donegal bus companies that have developed their business to fit the transport to these areas. It’s great to see Bus Eireann putting new buses on this route but they need to go the extra mile, as does the government, to find out what Donegal’s unique needs are in public transport.
I have completed the survey but as always feel more frustrated than satisfied because they are not answering the questions that need to be asked. Here’s hoping that the interest in providing green transport might generate at better service in the North West in the future
The passing of Michael Boyle
It’s with sadness that I learned of the passing of Michael Boyle of Drumkeen this week. I can’t say that I knew him that well but his wife Jacqueline (Gallen) was our neighbour and shopkeeper in Wolfe Tone Place when we were growing up.
My first memory of Michael was him driving the I.A.W.S. articulated Ford lorry down through Letterkenny Main Street at the height of the Letterkenny Folk Festival, a great day with the town packed to capacity and Jacquline, his girlfriend at that time sitting on with him, both enjoying life.
A few years later it was in the saddest of times that I remember Michael Boyle the day of a freak accident on New Year’s Eve 35 years ago when as a young fireman, I was called to the lane way near his home where the branch of a tree he was cutting ended up trapping him in the bow below. There isn’t a day that I passed that point just off the main road that I relived Michael’s accident.
Michael’s life changed forever that day and as Fr. Kieran McAteer (who it was Micheal’s final request for his funeral mass) described how we are now faced with all these restrictions in our lives because of Covid but they measure for very little when you look at Michael’s life journey for the last 35 years.
The late Michael Boyle from Drumkeen who sadly passed away.
In Michael’s years confined to his wheelchair he took great pride to head from his home in Drumkeen and get behind the wheel of his own Skoda and drive to the National Rehab Unit and head off himself for treatment to the south side of Dublin in Dun Laoghaire. Michael will be very sadly missed by his wife Jacqueline, his daughters Martina, Sinead, Ciara and Alisha and all his extended family and friends.