Rail makes a loss while motorists are subsidised

IT’S reported (March 24) that the new Galway-to-Limerick rail route will run at €2.4m loss.

Irish Rail owns the complete infrastructure and has to pay all the costs, including staff, signalling, policing and accidents, etc, whereas these are all provided completely free of charge to the road-user.

Of course motoring is taxed, but this does not cover the cost of road-building and maintenance.

If externalised costs due to accidents, pollution, policing, lighting, etc, are added, it’s quite clear motorists are very heavily subsidised.

The destruction of the railways was a political act driven by the road lobby (motor manufactures, road-builders, oil companies, garages, etc).

Three-quarters of the Irish rail network has been destroyed, supposedly because it was unprofitable, but no one demands that roads make a profit.

Transport policy is dictated by the road lobby, overtly and covertly, which also bankrolls spindoctors to brainwash the public.

It should be obvious that with increasing car dependency, traffic growing exponentially, cars getting bigger and global warming and peak oil looming that we have painted ourselves into a corner.

History cannot be rewound, but the only hope for the future is to try to understand it.

Michael Job

Rossnagrena

Glengarriff

Co Cork