We’d go off the rails without train system

■ Sir — Colm McCarthy opposes investment in rail (Sunday Independent, May 24) , including the Dart and Luas. Without them, Dublin traffic would be even more gridlocked. Rail, tram and metro offer much more capacity than bus and coach.

He should note the LimerickGalway line carried 531,000 passengers in 2019, up 16pc from 2018. A study by Faber Maunsell predicted 26pc growth by 2020 — 169,000 on reopening, growing to 213,000. Clearly, this has been exceeded.

Safety apart, a €150m investment in 41 extra inter-city carriages is the first significant capital expenditure on rail since 2007. Since then there has been considerable expenditure on motorways and roads.

The Rail Industry Association (RIA) 2019 analysis on UK electrification said well delivered ‘simpler’ electrification projects should cost £750,000-£1m a single track kilometre (STK) with more complex projects not exceeding £1.5m/STK — not £2m as Mr McCarthy suggests.

He is wrong to suggest more than half of Ireland’s rail network is double track. Irish Rail’s network statement shows 1,178km single, 886km double and 60km multiple track.

Based on RIA’s figures, if we use £1m/STK as the base cost it would cost £2.124bn to electrify the whole network. As capital investment in rail is written off over 30 years, this equates to £70.8m a year to the State.

Rail should be a core part of the public transport spine going forward and funded accordingly. Hassard Stacpoole,

Ballysteen, Co Limerick