Council seeks introduction of bus service on Cork greenway

Cork County Council is seeking the introduction of a rapid bus service along the Midleton-Youghal greenway as an interim transport solution in advance of the hoped reopening of a railway between the two towns.

The council is to request a meeting with Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien to discuss the growing gridlock on roads in East Cork and sustainable ways of reducing it, such as reopening the railway connection.

It is seeking that Mr O’Brien urgently undertake reviews of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS), The Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) — Southern Region (which is currently in the review cycle) and the All-Ireland Strategic Rail Review to allow for the inclusion of the reinstatement of the Midleton — Youghal railway line as government policy.

Councillors voted unanimously for this after it was proposed by Midleton-based Fianna Fail councillor Ann Marie Ahern.

However, after some discussion it was decided that the reintroduction of a railway line is realistically many years away and in the interim a rapid bus corridor between the town towns is the only viable option to ease ever-increasing gridlock along the N25, main Cork to Waterford road.

Senior Irish Rail official AJ Cronin said in today’s money it would cost €200m to construct and take 10 years to complete the rail link.

Ms Ahern said the reopening of the Cork-Midleton section of the railway in 2009 had been extremely successful and extending it to Youghal is the only way of alleviating gridlock on roads in the region, which for years have been deprived of upgrades.

Fine Gael leader on the council Michael Hegarty said the East Cork Railway Alliance (ECRA) lobby group had collected thousands of signatures backing the line’s reinstatement and it would be great to see it happen.

However, both he and Fine Gael councillor Rory Cocking said being realistic in the interim a rapid bus corridor needs to be developed along the greenway. Irish Rail has stated there is sufficient room along the route for that and a railway.

Social Democrats councillor Eamonn Horgan said the bus transit “needs to be addressed urgently.”

Mayor of County Cork Independent councillor Mary Linehan-Foley said ECRA had done tremendous work galvanising support for the railway reopening by gathering support from people in West Waterford who’d said they use it to commute to Cork City.

“We need to get it on some type of a development plan going forward,” she said.

Councillors from other regions of the county agreed.

Fermoy-based Aontú councillor Peter O’Donoghue said it makes common sense.

“If we are serious about promoting public transport and reducing carbon footprint this has to be done,” he said.