To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail the actions her Department has taken to progress the recommendations within the All-Island Strategic Rail Review Report.

The Department of Transport has secured support from the European Investment Bank (EIB) Advisory Services to help progress implementation of the Rail Review’s recommendations.

With the assistance of EIB consultants, my officials are working with colleagues in the Department of Transport, Translink, Irish Rail, and the National Transport Authority to consider the Review’s recommendations. This work has included the preparation of a Project Prioritisation Strategy, which identifies those rail interventions which could be well advanced or delivered over the next decade to 2035.

The EIB consultant team are currently focused on conducting a more detailed analysis of key major projects. Following completion of this work, the draft Project Prioritisation Strategy, which has been broadly agreed by the project Steering Group, will be reviewed and published later this year.

My officials are also working closely with Translink who are undertaking several feasibility studies, linked to recommendations in the Rail Review, which are due to report in the coming months. These include studies on reopening the Lisburn-Antrim line, with a link to Belfast International Airport; reinstating the Portadown-Armagh line; a new line from Portadown to Derry; and electrification of Belfast to the border.

The outcomes from these studies and the work with our southern colleagues will help inform my prioritisation of projects to progress as funding opportunities arise.