Transport links and Donegal

Sir, – Michael McDowell calls Eamon Ryan's plan for a railway link between Derry and Letterkenny "bonkers" ("Green policies are increasingly divorced from reality", Opinion & Analysis, September 15th).

We have been here before.

The Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company opened its service to Letterkenny in 1883. The Letterkenny and Burtonport Extension Railway (L&BER) was added in 1903, connecting Gaoth Dobhair to the outside world.

With kinder language than Michael McDowell, The Irish Times dubbed the L&BER, “That Old Sinner” in 1917 because of its troubled history.

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The last train ran from Letterkenny to Derry on August 8th, 1953.

While northwest Donegal still awaits a dual carriageway to Dublin, we have the Wild Atlantic Way, which leads nowhere in both directions. – Yours, etc,

Dr JOHN DOHERTY,

Gaoth Dobhair,

Co Dhún na nGall.