Sir, – I agree with Sadhbh O’Neill’s assertion that the cost of inaction on the All Ireland Strategic Rail Review is more congestion, sprawl, air pollution, rural isolation and transport poverty (“Investment in railways has the potential to help get climate targets on track”, News, October 26th). I would throw regional isolation and imbalance into that mix also.
The Government’s climate action plan targeted a 50 per cent reduction in transport emissions by 2030. Last year emissions rose by 6 per cent. O’Neill writes that the carbon footprint of an identical journey on a train versus an electric vehicle will be 80 per cent less.
Transporting people in single occupancy cars or freight containers on HGV’s up and down the country is neither economically viable nor environmentally sustainable.
Reopening intact alignments such as the Sligo-Galway and Wexford-Waterford lines and doubling existing lines involve straight-forward engineering and can be delivered quickly.
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We are a first-world country and our population has effectively doubled over the last 50 years.
We therefore need to develop both the reach and capacity of the rail network to expand the safest method of land travel and reduce carbon emissions. – Yours, etc,
ULTAN KEADY,
Caherlistrane,
Co Galway.
