Readers air their views about the railway industry and Rail Professional


Email your letters to: editor@railpro.co.uk Fax them to: 01223 327356 Or post them to: The Editor, Rail Professional, 275 Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8JE. Letters may be edited for length


Wright was on right track


Robert Wright refers to the ebbing support for HS2 (Wright track, May 2011 issue). The proponents of HS2 have


Stagecoach response


I am writing in response to Andrew Mourant’s article (Supertram’s wheels of steel, May 2011 issue). Due to the timing of the article, I wasn’t in a position to give an in-depth interview, however, we were disappointed not to be given the opportunity to respond to any of the specific points raised about our services. I’d like to set the record straight over the issue of accommodating bicycles on our services, along with some other points covered in your article. Firstly, as the article rightly states, some of our trams are very busy, particularly at peak times, and allowing cycles would reduce the available space for passengers. The only available space for cycles is in the area currently used by mobility impaired passengers and pushchairs. It is clearly not acceptable to disadvantage these groups of passengers who already rely on our trams as an easy and convenient way to travel around the city. As a group, we remain supportive of any improvements to encourage modal shift, and we have looked into the possibility of accepting cycles on our trams as part of a


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limited trial. However, for the reasons listed above, as well as ensuring we maintain legal compliance, we think it is unlikely that we would be in a position to accept cycles on a permanent basis. Supertram has established a reputation for


continuous improvements in customer service and we are committed to maintaining high- quality, reliable services with good value fares. Under our management, the network has been transformed from a heavily loss-making operation and drain on taxpayers, to a highly- efficient, financially sound business. We have recently announced a freeze in the cost of tram travel for our regular travellers, despite an environment where motorists have faced a 10 per cent increase in annual fuel and running costs. We hope this, along with other customer


service improvements, will help to encourage even more people to use our services.


Tim Shoveller Managing director Stagecoach Light Rail


based their case almost entirely on the need for added capacity. So well have they done it that their arguments are pretty much irrefutable. What they have not done is to make the case for providing this extra capacity in the form of a high speed railway, rather than a conventional 200 km/h one. We are being asked to accept that the costs of building, equipping and operating a high speed railway, complete with a fleet of bespoke high speed trains for running on Britain’s classic routes, would be little more than those of a conventional railway. Where is the evidence? With energy costs alone doubling for every 40 per cent increase in speed, this is not credible. In addition, there are interest costs that will build up during the 10-year construction period before the first revenue-earning train starts running. The arguments actually


presented point to a strategy of providing additional capacity through a rolling programme, mostly by reinstating what was lost in the 1960s, as 200km/h lines and local railways, including much of the alignment chosen for HS2 itself. Radical alternatives should at least be considered.


Henry Law Brighton


Wright is right to be concerned


I write to say that I share strongly Robert Wright’s concerns about the proposals for HS2 (Wright track, May 2011 issue). While I still believe whole-heartedly that there is a good case for building a line (or network of lines), I have always


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