Dear Editor,
Further to your recent front page report announcing the delay in further development of the Mayo section of the Western Rail Corridor until at least 2016, could I echo a suggestion voiced by another contributor recently. That is that in the interim, whilst awaiting further developments on the WRC and as an effective way of safeguarding the existing routes, Mayo council follow on on the enormous and unprecedented success of the Westport to Achill Greenway and formulate plans to convert all currently disused railway lines within the county to leisure cycle and walking greenways.
This would encompass not only the Claremorris to Charlestown line but also the Claremorris to Ballinrobe line and the Ballina to Killala line, and take that even one stage further with a resolution to connect all major population centres in Mayo by greenways by 2020. Indeed it might well transpire that such are the tourism and economic benefits that ultimately accrue from such a vast cycling network, that a cost benefit analysis could deem that such a continued use in the longer term could be preferable in sustainable economic benefit, to a rail line with limited passenger potential and no discernible plan to be used to any real degree for freight.
An avid Mayo cyclist
Name and address with editor.
