Railway lines may help solve Ireland’s traffic problems

Solving the problem of Ireland’s tailbacks and getting rid of thousands of used car tyres has emerged recently with the conversion of railway lines into roads.

The Holdfast Rubber Company in the UK, has launched a product which turns disused railway lines into functioning roads made of rubber.
The roads are made of panels of shredded car tyres. They are laid over the existing tracks and will allow vehicles to travel on the same road at up to 80km/h.
The idea has already been demonstrated in Corby, Northamptonshire. Over 8,000 cars will drive on it over the course of the next eight weeks.

Peter Coates Smith, who invented the Holdfast Rubber Highway, highlighted the prospect which the idea held.
“There is a real need for new and affordable options to realise much-needed infrastructure opportunities. There are no potholes, there’s no cracking, no spoiling from frost and it’s very quiet,” he said.
There are also environmental opportunities. By July 7th, 2006, Ireland will have to enforce EU legislation which will make it unlawful to bury car tyres in landfill sites or burn them.

Mr Coates Smith has indicated that the cost is E2 million per mile. This is only a fraction of the cost of building traditional roads. Ireland had over 5,500 kilometres of railway at its peak in the 1920s.
At the moment there is less than half that amount in use.