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Unread 22-08-2018, 08:53   #49
ACustomer
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Join Date: Jan 2006
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I normally disagree with Goods on specific issues. However railway infrastructure cannot be neatly partitioned into Passenger or Freight. The viability of a rail line is surely related to the total amount of traffic (and hence revenue) generated. A line could be hopelessly unviable if confined to either Freight of Passengers but viable if it carried both. For example the South Wexford line became a basket case once the Freight went a few years ago, so the passenger service became unsustainable.

Unfortunately Freight is now so marginal in Ireland that this point tends to be lost, but looking to the longer term future and the increased need for really energy efficient transport, then the overall importance of railways for long-distance traffic of all kinds could be much greater than it is now.
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