THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: Cookstown rural council protest against railway closures

At a meeting of Cookstown Rural Council, with Mr J P Duff, JP, presiding, a resolution protesting against the proposed closure of the railway line was unanimously passed.

Mr A Berkley, JP, speaking in favour of the resolution declared: “Transport in Northern Ireland is now in a more chaotic condition than ever before. The only things we are promised are the closing of the railways, increased freight charges and the borrowing of additional millions of pounds to experiment with during the next three years and thus increase the debit balance.”

There were, he added, only three passenger trains from Cookstown to Belfast daily to compete with eight bus services.

The resolution that was agreed on read: “That this council views with grave concern the proposal by the Ulster Transport Authority to close that railway to passenger traffic between Cookstown and Cookstown Junction and the Derry Central line between Magherafelt and Macfin. Any action in this direction would be nothing short of a disaster both for this area as well as Northern Ireland generally, where the indicated policy appears to be the closing of the railways by suitable stages. What is proposed could not possibly solve the present economic difficulties.”

The resolution continued: “In any reorganisation of transport we feel that a balanced system of economy can only be found by allowing the railways to play their legitimate part in the transport system of the country by curtailing the unwarranted road competition carried out under the current working.”