• Extending the reopened Derry-Portadown line 21 miles west from Derry to Letterkenny would give Donegal’s largest population centre a direct rail link to Dublin, and end the county’s six decades of rail isolation. It would also help bind together and enable modal shift between the 3 key towns in the North West City Region.
• The project would require the installation of a new river-crossing over the Foyle at some location (most probably within NI). A line from Derry to Letterkenny, with a bridge over the Foyle, would also provide the opportunity to create a new commuter station on the Cityside / Westbank of Derry, which is its main population centre. Such a station would be to the south of the city centre, and could be used as an opportunity to create a new sustainable urban neighbourhood there concentrated around the rail line.