Our Story - Into the West

SAVING THE DERRY-BELFAST RAILWAY LINE

At that time Stormont was in a long-term hiatus (2002-2007). With no elected government, that meant civil servants were running things. The Derry-Belfast line carried 630,000 passengers a year then, and the section of track between Derry and Ballymena was in need of upgrading. Rather than invest the money to do that, however, the instinct of civil servants was to instead seek to shut the least-used section – between Coleraine and Derry - with suggestions that the Coleraine-Ballymena section could be closed as well. Into The West was established in Derry to campaign against that proposal – and when government was restored at Stormont in 2007 it was confirmed by Ministers that the line would indeed be saved.

UPGRADING THE RAILWAY LINE

Keeping the line open meant that the track needed upgrading, which became the focus of our next campaigning. That work was finally signed-off by a Minister in 2011 and scheduled to take place in 2013. However – in 2011 Derry was awarded the first ever UK City of Culture award for 2013, which would have seen the rail line closed for significant periods across that year. So the work was indeed split into 3 phases. Phase 1 took place at the start of 2013. Phase 2 occurred in 2017, and saw the creation of a new station at Bellarena and a new 'passing place' (i.e. where trains can pass on the predominantly single-track line). That change meant that hourly trains could be introduced between Derry and Belfast for the first time from July 2017 – with a huge increase in passenger numbers ever since. The final stage of the upgrade work - 'Phase 3' – was originally scheduled for 2021, but has been repeatedly delayed ever since. It is now scheduled for the first half of 2027, with initial procurement work having already taken place for it. Once that track replacement work is competed, it will future-proof the rail line between Derry and Coleraine for years to come. And it should cut journey times between the two towns by up to 5mins.

A NEW STATION FOR DERRY

Derry has had four different versions of its 'Waterside Station' over the years. The first was opened on the city's Duke Street in 1852. It was then rebuilt in 1874 to a design by John Lanyon, brother of the famous architect Charles Lanyon. That station remained in use until two IRA bombings in the 1970s led to it being closed. It was then replaced by the third version of 'Waterside Station' – a small and unattractive structure located just south of the previous station. As work to upgrade the rail track between Derry and Coleraine progressed, it became clear that this station was becoming unfit for the growing passenger numbers from the city.

Derry's previous Waterside Railway Station - in use from 1980 to 2019

Into The West therefore campaigned across the 2010's for a new fit-for-purpose station to be created in Derry. Translink and Stormont agreed - but their preference was to build a new modern structure close to that 1980s station. Into The West were keen to see the previous Lanyon-designed station on Duke Street restored for this purpose instead. It was vacant at the time, having previously been used as a radio station and a carpet shop since it shut for rail in 1980. In the face of significant opposition from both Translink and civil servants, Into The West galvanised pubic opinion in-favour of restoring the old station – and eventually Stormont Ministers agreed in 2016. A completed restored version of the 'old' station reopened for rail usage as the EU-funded 'North West Transport Hub' in 2019. The restoration was an instant hit with passengers and the public, and won a range of heritage, transport and community awards.

REOPENING FORMER RAIL LINES – CLOSING 'THE GAP IN THE MAP'

Having initially focused largely on rail in and around Derry City and on making the EXISTING network better, in 2019 Into The West broadened its focus significantly. It was no longer sufficient to just make what little rail remained in the West of NI a bit better. Instead it needed to be expanded and restored right across the entire north-west of the island. We therefore broadened our focus out to covering all of counties Derry, Donegal, Tyrone and Fermanagh – campaigning for rail to be restored and extended right across the entire region. We developed a map of the key routes and towns that we believed rail should be restored to, and began working to persuade the public, businesses, councils and elected representatives of 'The Case For Rail' in key towns like Omagh, Letterkenny, Strabane, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Limavady and Cookstown, as well as to all three of NI's airports. We also gave each reopened rail route a prioritisation, to reflect its population size and the likely timescale involved in seeing it restored.

We have since been working hard to persuade the public and politicians alike of the feasibility of having rail restored right across the north-west of the island – closing the ridiculous 'Gap in the Map' of the island's rail infrastructure. We have lobbied Ministers, councils, MPs, TDs, MLAs, councillors, Chambers of Commerce, universities and other key civic organisations to help spread the message that this region needs rail, and that restoring it is both feasible and essential. Not just for getting from A to B, but also for regional balance, economic development, population growth, tourism, social justice and tackling the climate crisis. The North-West NEEDS rail.

ALL-ISLAND RAIL STRATEGY

Influenced in-part by Into The West's lobbying efforts, in 2021 the Ministers responsible for transport in NI and ROI began the process of developing a joint strategy for rail across the island. This marked recognition that significant investment was required in the island's rail network, that a strategy was needed for how to do that, and that it could only sensibly be done on a cross-border basis. Into The West made a very detailed 53-page submission to the public consultation on the strategy – with significant overlap noted between that submission and the final strategy that was released.

The cover of Into The West's detailed submission to the All-Island Rail Review process – January 2022

Into The West also worked hard to promote the two public consultations that were held on the All-Island Rail Review/Strategy. As a result, by-far the greatest source of contributions came form the four counties in the north-west of the island (see below). This huge display of public support for better rail across the region helped strengthen the case for it within the emerging All-Island Rail Strategy

DERRY-BELFAST RAIL LINE – CURRENT STATUS

• The Derry-Belfast rail line has undergone significant growth in usage over the last 15 years – with passenger numbers essentially doubling. This is despite the impact of the Covid pandemic in 2020-21, and the rise of 'Working From Home'
• It is by-far the busiest single-track railway anywhere in the UK or Ireland.

DERRY, CASTLEROCK & BELLARENA STATIONS

• Derry has been the star performer on the entire island's rail network for the last decade. Rail usage in the city has grown significantly since the 6-day-a-week hourly service was introduced in 2017, and the new/restored station opened in 2019.
• In less than a decade (2024-5 compared to 2015-16) rail demand from Derry has grown by 300%. Over the same period, demand for rail across NI as a whole has grown by only 10%.
• Derry's Waterside Station is now the 7th busiest in NI, catering for almost 1 million journeys a year

• Over the same period, passenger numbers have also doubled from Castlerock Station, and trebled from Bellarena.

AWARD

In 2022 Into The West's campaigning work saw it named as 'Community Champion of the Year' in the Derry Journal 'People of the Year Awards'.