Mayo velorail confirms closed railway route can be used for leisure purposes
THE Western Rail Trail campaign for the closed railway line from Athenry to Collooney to be used as a greenway until such time as a railway might be possible has welcomed the opening of the velorail in Mayo.
The project, on a section of the closed railway in Kiltimagh, represents a recognition that the railway can now be used for leisure purposes until such time as a railway might be possible, they say.
The velorail opened to the public last weekend.
Brendan Quinn, of the Western Rail Trail campaign, commenting on the velorail project, said: “It is an interesting idea. It was tried in the Snowdon National Park in north Wales with a footfall of 10 million visitors per annum but wasn’t deemed viable after initial investigation. It will be interesting to see how this project progresses. It has to be presumed that the market research to back the business case for half a million euro investment gave the velorail a positive response.”
For the greenway campaign, the most important thing about the velorail is the acceptance of using the closed railway route now for leisure purposes, he said.
This is the first of two projects on the route of the closed railway route from Claremorris to Collooney in Co. Sligo that have attracted government investment.
The Sligo Greenway project to utilise the closed railway from Bellaghy/Charlestown on the Mayo/Sligo border to Collooney is now in public consultation stage.
Sligo Greenway has the full backing of Sligo County Council, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Department of Transport as well as massive public support, said Quinn.
“It will be a huge boost for tourism in the region. We just hope nobody tries to stop it from happening.”
He continued: “The velorail uses the old railway line. Irish Rail have confirmed that the railway tracks the velorail carts run on would have to be completely replaced should the route ever be used for railway in the future. They have no relevance to any future use of the closed railway.
“The velorail simply protects the route in public ownership in the same way that a greenway would. It is an accepted norm that these projects protect the state asset, which is the route, not the old defunct railway tracks which have no relevance.”
The Western Rail Trail congratulated the velorail project on establishing tourism and leisure industry use on part of the closed railway. However, the campaign feels a footpath and cycleway placed alongside the velorail would have further enhanced the project.
“Over 200 submissions on the velorail planning application and a petition of 1,000 Kiltimagh residents asked for this to happen, but the idea was not embraced by Mayo County Council,” said Mr. Quinn.
The Western Rail Trail campaign will now campaign for Mayo County Council to embrace the idea of a greenway on the closed railway section that is not part of the velorail project and for Mayo County Council to consider the idea of a greenway to run parallel with the velorail.
“The velorail is an interesting idea but will always be limited to a short section of the closed railway; however the real scope for regional tourism is to extend the use of the closed railway route as a long distance leisure route for all as a greenway and to connect the Sligo Greenway with the Great Western Greenway using the route.
“Now the principle of using the closed railway for leisure is established, the greenway on the other parts of the closed railway in Mayo, Galway and Sligo really needs to be looked at.”