Hallowe'en rail disruption evidence of 'Belfast-centric thinking' in Translink

Rail lobby group 'Into the West' said people across the North West reacted with disbelief at Translink's scheduled rail closure over the weekend of Derry’s annual Halloween festival.

Into The West is the rail campaign for counties Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Donegal.

Speaking to Derry News, its spokesperson, Steve Bradley said: "Derry plays host to Europe’s largest Halloween events, and one of the biggest in the world, with more than 100,000 people expected to descend upon the city for this year’s four day event between, Friday, October 28 and Monday, October 31. In 2015 readers of USA Today newspaper even voted Derry the world’s best destination for Hallowe'en. With so many visitors traveling to the city for the event, in previous years Translink has run late services to cater for the large crowds watching the parade and fireworks that form the event finale on Hallowe'en night.

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"On Monday, October 3, Translink announced there would be closures on part of the Derry-Belfast railway line for planned engineering works on October 29, 30 and 31, clashing directly with the biggest annual event in NI’s second city.

"The news immediately triggered a backlash on social media, as the public and politicians alike across the North-West expressed disbelief that such a key weekend was chosen for routine engineering work. Stung by the level of criticism, Translink quickly revised its closure plans so that the line will now stay open on Sunday, October 30, and only be closed between Great Victoria Street and Yorkgate in Belfast on Saturday, October 29 and Monday, October 31.

"However, rail campaigners have highlighted that this is the third time in recent months Translink has faced criticism for a decision that failed to factor-in Derry, and have raised concern that it points to an endemic issue with how Translink is run," said Mr Bradley.

Into The West is the rail campaign for counties Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Donegal.

Mr Bradley said it was  good news that Translink had accepted the criticism over its planned engineering works for Halloween weekend, and has taken action to minimise its impact.

He added: "Our concern, however, is that this is just the latest in a series of recent decisions that suggest Derry is being ignored within Translink’s decision making.

"The first was in July when Translink organised a special train to take Derry GAA fans to Dublin for the all-Ireland semi-final but in their wisdom decided to only run it from Belfast, not Derry. Then over the Summer there were repeated instances where Translink diverted the usual train service between Derry and Belfast to instead run between Belfast and Portrush, with passengers for the north-west forced to change at Coleraine and sometimes wait up to an hour for a connection. Just so that people from the east could travel to the seaside a few minutes faster.

"And now we have planned engineering works scheduled to clash with the busiest weekend in Derry’s annual calendar, all because it’s half-term in Belfast.

"Something is clearly wrong in the way Translink and the Department for Infrastructure are making decisions when they continue to focus on Belfast to the detriment of the north-west. We need a firm guarantee from Translink that this is the last time this will happen, as the people of Derry will not accept such second-class treatment”.

Mr Bradley continued “In addition there is a broader issue of east-west discrimination in rail services, with the three stations in the west (Derry, Bellarena and Castlerock) receiving a significantly poorer level of service than every station East of the Bann on the Belfast line gets.

"Derry only has one train every two hours on a Sunday, for example, whilst Coleraine and all stations in the east have an hourly service. Derry has only one morning service that reaches Belfast before 9am, whereas Coleraine has four and Portrush has two. And the last evening train that departs Belfast from Derry every evening is at 9:10pm, which means rail doesn’t work for anyone in the west planning to go to a concert, the theatre etc. Yet trains leave Belfast for every station as far as Coleraine up until 10:40pm.

"All of this reinforces a picture of clear rail discrimination against Derry and the north-west in decision making at Translink and Stormont.

"Previous Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon told us that a sum of £200,000 per year would address this disparity and equalise services across the line. She also said that she had submitted a request for the funding from the Department for Finance but not received a response. It is now incumbent upon Finance Minister Conor Murphy to take this
issue seriously and release the funding required to end Derry’s second class rail treatment”.