Sir, - In the 1960s a prime cause of disaffection in Derry was the foolish decision to close the railway connecting the city with Omagh and Portadown. Recent announcements of largesse towards public transport may have given the impression that British New Labour has at last shaken off the Treasury's malignity towards railways, but Northern Irish events show that little has in fact changed.
Proposals are afoot to close, not just to mothball, the lines from Ballymena to Derry (with the Portrush branch) and from Whitehead to Larne. The effects of the closures upon tourism and social cohesion would be serious - as in the past - and inexcusable in view of the lavish investment in the road system. The closure from Whitehead to Larne is deplorable to contemplate since Larne-Rosslare-Cork has been designated as a Euro-route. Such routes, by definition, entail the provision of facilities for rail freight on economic, social, and environmental grounds.
The proposals originate in the chauffeur-driven oligarchy of the British Exchequer. I beg the Irish Government to oppose them vigorously, since rapid changes of office deprive DUP ministers of the intellectual capacity needed to cope with the problem. - Yours, etc.,
G.L. Huxley, Church Enstone, Oxfordshire.