Up to 100 lorries a day will have to transport south Wexford's sugar beet harvest to factories in Carlow and Mallow if Iarnród Éireann closes its Wexford/ Rosslare line, it has been claimed.
Mr Willie French, chairman of the Irish Farmers' Association's national beet committee, predicted there would be a knock-on effect in Cork, Tipperary, Waterford and other counties if the line was closed.
Speaking ahead of a public meeting on the issue in Piercetown, Wexford, tonight, Mr French said that traditionally, beet grown in south Wexford was transported by rail to Thurles. Later, Wellingtonbridge in Wexford became the main depot for distributing the 160,000 tonnes of beet to the factory in Mallow.
"This system has been working very well since 1989, when five trains each day, six days a week, delivered the crop in the three months (from) October to the end of December," he said.
He said the trains normally carried 500 tonnes of the crop in 125 wagons to Mallow daily and it would take 100 articulated lorries operating every day of the week to replace the system.
"The road infrastructure is not up to putting so many vehicles on the road and it is likely that the whole production system in the sugar factories will have to be changed if the line closes down.
"Everyone would agree that it is much safer for other road-users to have the beet carried by rail, and while we appreciate the difficulties the company has in operating the line, its closure will cause a lot of difficulties for the beet industry in the area," he said.