Rail cuts could hit road traffic

Irish Rail's proposals to cut by 46 per cent the volume of freight carried by rail would mean that an extra 1.25 million tonnes of freight would transfer to the roads, Mr Emmet Stagg, TD, the Labour Party spokesman on Public Enterprise, has warned. Mr Stagg said the result would be many more heavy goods vehicles on the roads, leading to extra road deaths. "Of the 20 cyclists killed in Dublin over the past six years, 15 died as a result of collisions with heavy goods vehicles," he said.