Derry’s railway station has registered its highest ever passenger numbers, outstripping all previous records.
Statistics from Translink show that a phenomenal 952,126 passengers passed through Derry’s rail station across 2023-24.
This is a rise of almost a quarter of a million journeys versus the previous 12 months – which itself was also a record year – and amounts to a 32% year-on-year rise.
It is also the highest number of passengers Derry’s rail station has ever carried, and has propelled the city up one more place on the leader board to now rank as NI’s seventh busiest station, over-taking Coleraine in the process.
Until 2017 the city had just one rail service every two hours on the line to Belfast – with 340,000 passengers using the old station.
In July 2017 an hourly service was introduced from the city, six days a week, which saw passenger numbers leap by over 100,000 in the following months.
Following the opening of the new multi-million transport hub in 2019, Derry’s station rose to 13th place shortly afterwards.
Rail campaign group Into The West said since the opening of the new transport hub, demand for rail use in Derry has risen dramatically.
Campaigners pointed to the covid pandemic having a positive impact on the number of journeys from Derry. Rail usage from the city has surged by 80% compared with before Covid, with 423,000 more passengers in 2023-24 versus 2018-19.
Into The West point out that Derry’s phenomenal growth has come despite the three rail stations West of the River Bann on the Derry-Belfast line (Castlerock, Bellarena and Derry) receiving 2,600 fewer rail services a year than every station East of the Bann gets on the same line – including only half as many trains on a Sunday.
They also highlight that Stormont and Translink continue to focus their funding and energy on improving rail in Belfast – where demand has been falling – rather than in Derry, where it continues to soar.
They noted that there are currently six major rail projects either ongoing or planned and funded in NI at the moment, with a total cost of over half a billion pounds. All six are located east of the Bann, with no such projects west of the Bann.
Chair of Into The West, Steve Bradley, said: “It’s fantastic to report yet another record-breaking year for rail demand to and from Derry.
“Twenty years ago civil servants tried to shut the last remaining railway line West of the Bann entirely. And ten years ago it took a high-profile public campaign to get Stormont to accept that Derry should have a rail station fit for purpose.
“We’d like to thank the people of Derry, who have shown repeatedly that they value the ability to travel by rail – with even modest improvements in services and facilities here resulting in huge increases in passenger numbers.
“Yet all that has been achieved despite the city suffering clear discrimination in services from Translink and the Department for Infrastructure (DFI). For example – only one train from Derry reaches Belfast before 9am every morning, whereas Coleraine has four and even Portrush has two.
“The last train departing Belfast for West of the Bann in the evenings is at 9.10pm (7:10pm on Sundays), which rules out using rail to attend a concert, the theatre, Ulster Rugby etc.
“Yet services for every station up to Coleraine leave Belfast as late as 10:40pm. Most inexplicable of all, Derry has only six rail services on a Sunday – one every two hours – whereas every station on the line east of the Bann has 13.
“All of this amounts to Derry, Castlerock and Bellarena each receiving 2,600 fewer rail services every year than the stations east of the Bann.
“Just think how high the demand for rail from Derry would be if the city didn’t have one hand tied behind its back in this way?”
Into The West is calling on Sinn Fein Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd to bring his department’s blatant timetable discrimination against Derry and the West to an end as a matter of urgency.
Mr Bradley explained: “John O’Dowd has been Minister for five months, so is not to blame for his department’s longstanding timetable discrimination against the West of NI.
“He is, however, responsible for now ending it – so he and his party will be judged in Derry and the West on whether or not he does.
“The Minister recently announced that £141m will be used to fund hourly trains on the Enterprise service between Belfast and Dublin – a route that carries fewer than half the passengers that the Derry-Belfast line does.
“Yet at the same time we’re told that a few hundred thousand pounds can’t be found to ensure that Derry has hourly trains on a Sunday.
“It represents blatant discrimination against NI’s second city, which Minister O’Dowd must now either choose to end or himself be implicated in.”
Mr Bradley concluded: “With over half a billion pounds of capital funding currently committed to 6 major rail projects in Belfast and the east, and no projects at all confirmed for the West, it is clear that the priority of Translink and DFI is to continue focusing resources where rail demand has fallen due to Working From Home – rather than on the places where it is soaring.
“Rail investment across NI is not reflecting the changed demand and new reality since Covid.
“To avoid public money being prioritised on the wrong things – such as the third-of-a-billion pounds being spent on just one massive new station in Belfast – it is essential that Translink and DFI review their capital plans as a matter of urgency to ensure they reflect Belfast’s decline and Derry’s huge growth in rail demand.
“There is no point ignoring the impact Working From Home has had upon travel patterns in the east of NI. And it is now time to recognise the huge latent demand for rail in Derry, by giving passengers there the equal levels of service that their usage demands.
“We must ensure that rail spending goes to where the growing demand is – and not just to the places where it has always gone before.”
The Department for Infrastructure said Minister O’Dowd is “committed to addressing regional imbalance and ensuring that improving rail services to the North-West is a key part of this”.
Phase three of the Derry-Coleraine line will cost around £98m.
A DfI spokesperson said Mr O’Dowd has ringfenced £4.7m for phase three capital works to complete the renewal of the railway line between Derry and Coleraine to accommodate speed increases and improve journey times.
“Additionally, the Minister has also secured funding from the Union Connectivity Review for a feasibility study into the Derry to Portadown line,” added the DfI.
“Finalising the All-Island Strategic Rail Review is one of Minister O’Dowd’s key priorities.”
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