Sligo Western Rail Corridor Assessment of Options 2016 Prepared by Meehan Tully & Associates Ltd. 4 The Mall, Sligo, Ireland. : + 353 71 9146500 | [email protected] | : www.meehantully.com Mentoring and Business Support | Strategic Planning | Training | Community Development | Research | Facilitation Sligo Western Rail Corridor Assessment of Options i Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... iv 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Historical Context ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Western Rail Corridor ................................................................................................................................. 2 Northern Section of the WRC ..................................................................................................................... 4 Sligo Section ................................................................................................................................................ 5 Sligo City ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 Collooney .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Coolaney ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 Tubbercurry ................................................................................................................................................ 7 Curry ........................................................................................................................................................... 7 Bellaghy ....................................................................................................................................................... 8 Charlestown-Bellaghy ................................................................................................................................. 8 2 Current Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................. 9 Rail Corridor ................................................................................................................................................ 9 Rail Track ...................................................................................................................................................10 Line Maintenance .....................................................................................................................................11 Bridges and Crossings ...............................................................................................................................11 Structures ..................................................................................................................................................12 3 Future Plans ..........................................................................................................................................13 Development Options ...............................................................................................................................13 4 Option One, Reopen the line ................................................................................................................14 Costings .....................................................................................................................................................14 Rail Passenger Numbers ...........................................................................................................................15 Cost Benefit Analysis .................................................................................................................................16 Strategic Decision .....................................................................................................................................17 Cost Efficiency .......................................................................................................................................19 Productivity ...........................................................................................................................................19 Summary of Assessment of Option 1 .......................................................................................................20 5 Option Two, single-use Greenway ........................................................................................................21 Recreational Trails ....................................................................................................................................21 Sligo Western Rail Corridor Assessment of Options ii Off-road trails ........................................................................................................................................21 On road trails ........................................................................................................................................21 Costings .....................................................................................................................................................22 Economic Analysis for a Greenway ...........................................................................................................25 Existing Greenways ...............................................................................................................................25 Payback period for the potential greenway .........................................................................................26 Net Visitor Expenditure.............................................................................................................................27 Deadweight ...........................................................................................................................................28 Leakage .................................................................................................................................................28 Displacement ........................................................................................................................................28 Regional Tourism Multipliers ................................................................................................................28 Net Additional Expenditure ..................................................................................................................29 Net Additional Employment .................................................................................................................29 New to the Economy - Net Additional Expenditure .................................................................................30 Phased Development ................................................................................................................................30 Funding Sources ........................................................................................................................................31 Maintenance .............................................................................................................................................31 Management Structure.............................................................................................................................32 Staffing ......................................................................................................................................................32 Summary of Assessment of Option 2 .......................................................................................................33 6 Option Three, shared-use Greenway ....................................................................................................34 Examples of Shared Use of Railway ..........................................................................................................34 Athlone-Mullingar Greenway ...............................................................................................................34 Waterford Greenway ............................................................................................................................35 Projected costings for shared use .............................................................................................................36 Economic Analysis for shared-use greenway............................................................................................36 Payback period for the shared-use greenway ......................................................................................37 Phased Development ................................................................................................................................37 Funding Sources ........................................................................................................................................37 Management Structure.............................................................................................................................38