Observations on Irish railway statistics

Abstract

As the railway system has now been considerably extended in Ireland, it becomes a matter of interest to mark its progress, and to examine the parliamentary and other public returns of traffic, for the purpose of discovering how far it has fulfilled or surpassed the expectation formed of it by the late Mr. Drummond, and other gentlemen who sat on the Railway Commission in this country ten years ago. It will also be interesting to inquire, to what extent railways have increased the intercourse and developed the resources of those districts where they have been opened; and whether the experience we have had points out any obstacles in the way of their further progress, which ought to be removed by the legislature.