Readers air their views about the railway industry and Rail Professional
Email your letters to:
letters@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
Panorama ignored problem of short franchises I am sure many Rail Professional readers watched Panorama’s Bad Deal on Fares, but, in general, it revealed nothing that we did not already know. The Atoc boss was as bland as ever and the lady from the ORR looked
absolutely petrified at being asked questions.
The one point that did
agitate me was at the end of the programme when the Network Rail chief executive was challenged for more information about costs of major projects, especially those that overrun their timescale.
He said that these would be
made available and that people had been hired to work on this – yet more increased hiring costs for information that they already have to hand but do not want anyone to know! Another area which
the investigator did not, unfortunately, venture into is
the enormous waste of money by the Department of Transport, which is costing the taxpayer/ farepayer a fortune. The recent awarding of the Anglia franchise to a new company for just over two years is a perfect example. After a very short time, the whole costly franchise pantomime will have to be gone through again. Why on earth the existing
franchise couldn’t have been extended for that period is beyond belief, especially as other companies have had their franchises extended for short periods, without question, despite some very poor performances.
John Cherry (Retired Atoc member)
We’re way better than Connex! In your February issue you published a letter suggesting that levels of dissatisfaction of Southeastern passengers are ‘now at such a high level as previously reached in the days of the dreaded Connex’. While we recognise each
individual’s experience is unique, it is not reflective of the majority. The latest NPS survey
HS2 is nothing to cheer about
The real case against HS2 is that for what it will cost, it does little to satisfy most people’s real transport needs One wonders if those who have put their support behind the project understand the geography of the country. More than 80 per cent of the population of Great Britain live and work south of Leeds and east of the Welsh border, in the London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool conurbations, the major cities of Leeds and Bristol, or the many towns with populations of between 100,000 and 250,000, spaced
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approximately 20 miles apart. The transport needs that arise from this pattern of settlement will not be well served by a single spine route, but by a comprehensive network providing the maximum number of journey opportunities. Such a network can best be developed by a combination of improvements to existing routes and a few entirely new connecting links.
Henry Law Brighton
showed an 83 per cent level of satisfaction, the highest ever achieved on this network. The current MAA punctuality of 91.6 per cent is again the highest this network has experienced since PPM was introduced in the BR days. We are not complacent and will continue to improve things but know that we are heading in the right direction.
Jon Hay-Campbell Media relations manager Southeastern
International bookings are historic problem I was interested to read the article on European travel
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