Sir, – In the article “All-island rail plan ‘makes the case’ for more road projects, Taoiseach says” (News, July 26th), Leo Varadkar contends that the figures contained within the draft All-Island Strategic Rail Review present a stronger case for “further investment” in road projects. He suggests that because the implementation of the plan predicts an increase in passengers travelling by train from 3 per cent to 6 per cent, that this will leave 94 per cent of people travelling by road or path, respectively.
His conclusion is mistaken. The line in the plan referring to passenger kilometres travelled reads “the market share of rail would also double from around 3 per cent of passenger kilometres today to more than 6 per cent (before any demand management measures are considered, which could increase mode share further)”. The second part of this sentence is important. It recognises that rail transport is part of an overall transport system, not a mode of transport isolation. Its potential will be amplified by measures taken to prioritise other sustainable transport modes, namely walking, cycling and bus services. Improvements in one mode results in improvement in the wider network – a rising tide lifts all boats, so to speak.
Demand management measures are already under way. Reallocation of road space for cycling networks and dedicated bus lanes will expand the catchment area of our rail network. As our urban population grows, good planning and siting of services will be crucial to our future transport system. Transit-oriented development in urban centres on our railway network will reduce the need for long commutes in the first place. Walkable and cyclable neighbourhoods served by pre-existing public transport services will reduce car dependency and forced car ownership.
Walking, cycling and bus routes will require well-maintained road space. Thankfully, we do not need carbon-intensive new roads for this since Ireland already has one of the densest roads networks in Europe. We need to repurpose our existing road network to help achieve the modern transport system we urgently need for environmental, health and economic reasons.
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Our rail network will be the backbone of that system. – Yours, etc,
SÍLE GINNANE,
Ennis,
Co Clare.