Prospective Independent candidate for the Roscommon South Leitrim by-election Tom Crosby has expressed serious dismay at recent media reports regarding the potential risk to rural train services in the County Leitrim area, calling them “another serious attack on the people of the midlands.”
“Although there has been no definitive announcement of named closures confirmed recent reports in national newspapers have stated that some rural strain stations may be at risk and one of those identified is Dromad County Leitrim which is used by a large number of commuters every single day and facilitates seven trains a day from Sligo to Dublin and nine from Longford, with six on a Sunday,” said Mr. Crosby.
“The villages of Rooskey and Dromad have already been severely hit by the loss of the national Bus Eireann daily bus service and I campaigned tirelessly to fight for the rein station of that – it has already been lost and the potential withdrawal of the train service would be appalling and a further insult to the people of the local community, to the many students who use this service and to those to whom it is a lifeline, enabling them to travel to nearby towns and carry out their shopping, collect their pensions, visit their doctor, etc,” concluded the former Councillor.
The Irish Rail network has been deemed “chronically underfunded” to the tune of around €60m annually and an in-depth review of services across the rail network is now underway with the possibility that under used stations could be closed in a bid to cut costs – with Dromad station identified as one possible victim of a cull.