Waterford Council supports new train in east Cork
“The economic benefits of this for the people of West Waterford and East Cork would be huge."
Councillor Pat Nugent proposed that Waterford City and County Council would support East Cork Railway Alliance, “in their endeavours to open the Youghal to Middleton railway line".
“In the very short term the train from Middleton to Cork would be every 10 minutes. They have free car parking there in Middleton. There are so many commuters from West and Central Waterford going to Cork on a daily basis," he told the Plenary meeting of the council.
“Castlemartyr and Youghal are off the radar as far as TFI is concerned.”
Cllr Nugent told the room that the committee in charge of this project are very active and meet on a weekly basis.
“By supporting them, we would be supporting ourselves into getting people to travel by train from Youghal.
“I was told this morning there was a traffic jam from Middleton back to Castlemartyr."
Cllr Donnacha Mulcahy seconded the motion.
“The economic benefits of this for the people of West Waterford and East Cork would be huge.
“A lot of people in West Waterford travel to Cork for work. It would take a lot of traffic off the road and it would be a great benefit.”
Cllr Thomas Phelan added: “The traffic going to Cork can be very heavy. I think this is a winner for East Cork and it would also be excellent for West Waterford.”
One councillor said he supported the motion but also stated that, “It’s somewhat ironic that people come in here at Council meetings and are told that certain issues are Metro (Metropolitan District) so they can’t discuss it, but we can spend 10 minutes talking about an issue in Cork."
Ultimately, the motion was passed.
