Rail campaigners in city march

Protesters want to safeguard services to the north west

More than 200 campaigners have marched through Belfast city centre to call for rail services in the north west of the province to be safeguarded.

The marchers are concerned that the government might decide to close the Belfast to Londonderry rail link north of Ballymena.

The lobby group Invest in the West, presented petitions containing thousands of signatures to officials reviewing Northern Ireland's railway network on Wednesday.

Campaigners were joined by politicians, including SDLP leader Mark Durkan, and senior representatives from rail operators Translink which produced a report putting forward a strong economic case for retaining the threatened line.

Mal McGreevy, the company's general manager said: "We are very happy to be involved in supporting such a campaign."

However, he admitted that a huge investment was needed to transform the service to the north west.

Commuters, shoppers and tourists make their way from far and wide. If anything, we should be discussing the rail line's development and expansion Tom Eakin Belfast Lord Mayor

"The medium investment requirements are in the region of £40m to achieve a catch up."

Eammon McCann, a Derry-based activist said people were suspicious that there was a policy of allowing the railway line to die by neglect.

"We feel the decision has already been taken, but we are trying to force a change in policy," he said.

Belfast's Lord Mayor, Tom Ekin, welcomed the marchers and insisted closing whole sections of the network made no sense.

"I know how important rail services are for the vitality and economic well being of our capital city," the Alliance councillor said.

"Commuters, shoppers and tourists make their way from far and wide. If anything, we should be discussing its development and expansion."

A public consultation period on the future of the province's railways ends on Friday.

A report published in March on the future of rail travel in Northern Ireland found the network could be dramatically improved for an extra few million pounds a year.

The report, commissioned by the province's bus and rail company Translink, found extra expenditure could mean the introduction of an hourly service to Derry.

With doubt remaining over the future of the line, the report said that its closure could deliver net gains, but would cause considerable community resistance.

Translink commissioned the report ahead of its submission to the government review.