Breakdown of the plans for a massive expansion of Northern Ireland's railways - but 'funding is the biggest complication'

The cost of the project would be in the billions of pounds, and one transport expert has said while it is do-able, it would take a lot of political will.

Meanwhile disappointment has been voiced that the plans would not include Enniskillen, meaning Fermanagh would be the only county with no real rail links.

Also recommended are links to Donegal and more regular train services between Northern Ireland and Dublin.

The report calling for all this is called the All Island Strategic Rail Review, and has been years in the making.

Whilst the News Letter is focussing on Northern Ireland, the report sets out recommendations for the entire island.

It estimates the cost of implementing all the island-wide recommendations by 2050 would be between £29 and £31 billion.

Here are some of the headline recommendations:

A new 200km/h / 125mph line from Belfast to Newry via Hillsborough, Dromore, and Banbridge;

A new 200km/h / 125mph dual-tracked electrified line between Portadown and Londonderry;

A new single-track line between Londonderry and Letterkenny;

New stations between Londonderry and Coleraine, including a spur to Limavady;

A new single-track line between Portadown and Mullingar via Armagh, Monaghan, Clones, and Cavan;

And one train per hour on the Dublin-Belfast line.

Wesley Johnston is an author and researcher with a special interest in transport.

He penned a book in 2014 into Belfast's motorway network (The Belfast Urban Motorway: Engineering, Ambition and Social Conflict) and runs the website NI Roads Site, which sets out in considerable detail the evolution of the Province's transport network.

"While it's a great plan, there'd be tough questions that'd need to be answered as to how we'd finance it," he said.

"You're talking about a scheme that's many times more expensive than the A5 dual carriageway scheme."

The A5 is costed at £1.7bn (it has also "been in planning for 17 years").

"So it's feasible, but it's expensive," he said.

"I think the timescale they're talking of, 30 years, is realistic – I don't it's being pessimistic. I think it would take that length of time.

"Technically, it's perfectly feasible. It's just where we find the money."

Would there really be enough demand to sustain all these new rail lines?

"I think what they're trying to do is create the demand," he said.

"It's a case of 'put the infrastructure there and people would use it', I think that's probably the way they're looking at it.

"[The funding] is the biggest complication.

"£1.7bn is the cost of the A5 dual carriageway, and it's the most expensive single scheme we've ever tried to build."

DUP transport spokeswoman Deborah Erskine (Fermanagh and South Tyrone) lamented the fact Enniskillen was not included in the plans for new tracks, saying: "That is very disappointing, particularly for an area where there is a need for significant infrastructure improvements, and should be an important area for cross-border connectivity.

"I will be continuing to challenge this."

And fellow constituency MLA Tom Elliott of the UUP said: "When the All-Island Strategic Rail Review was first announced there was much optimism, that once and for all Fermanagh would be connected by trains.

"However, the Minister and this review have demonstrated a clear lack of ambition to connect every community in Northern Ireland and to rest of Island.

"This review was an opportunity to address the regional imbalance and inequality in our transport networks but it is clear the minster and his department have not shown a willingness to explore this at all.

"The rail review was ambitious yet with price tag of approx £31 billion it is doubtful we will ever see the fruits of its labour."