THE Greens have received little support from opposing Riverina candidates after releasing a plan to increase charges for B-double trucks.The plan is designed to increase rail freight and reduce the environmental impacts of the thousands of trucks on Australian roads but was quickly shut down.Greens candidate David Fletcher said the plan to scrap subsidies for truck and trailer registration would rejuvenate regional rail lines and increase jobs in the Riverina.However, his opponents believe the trucking industry to be vital to the Riverina, not only in terms of employment but also the delivery of day to day goods and services.Geoff Crouch, managing director of Ron Crouch Transport, said it was "idiotic" to think the industry could survive without the government subsidies."It already costs more than $14,000 to register a B-double and it would be fiscally irresponsible to suggest the industry would cope," he said."Environmentally, new truck engines already meet stringent standards on emissions and are improving all the time."While disapproving of the plan to slug transport companies, the candidates were in agreement over the importance and efficiency of rail as a transport mode with the development of regional rail hubs a priority.One Nation candidate Craig Hesketh summed up the feeling of most of the candidates by saying support for rail should not come at the cost of the trucking industry."Transport companies are already being squeezed out and livelihoods lost because of rising costs. Why would we make life harder?" he said."I agree there needs to be more rail and rail hubs are a way of integrating road and rail transport into the Riverina."While independent candidate Matthew Hogg saw the development of rail as a nation-building project."The trucking industry is an essential part of regional Australia but there is value in rail and the development of the Melbourne to Brisbane rail line for instance could be the next Snowy Hydro project," he said.