Letters


written by Aaron Gowell in the February edition.


The problem of not being


able to book through-tickets beyond the Eurostar network, except for some very limited destinations, is the fault of reorganisation in the last years of BR.


Pressure put on the industry, by the then Conservative regime’s pre-privatisation, resulted in the UK railways closing down the travel centres that could do European rail as an easy option, to cut costs, and then Eurostar deciding in the early years of operation to drop through-ticketing.


These actions threw away knowledge and expertise, resulting in nobody being able to book tickets for Europe or anywhere else in the world. I am a bit confused by the


article, however. It seems to me the author should know that nobody has built a search engine capable of producing a one-hat- fits-all system.


The rail network is very complicated, and to be of use to the public it has to be able to book a ticket from Newcastle to Warsaw or Oslo to Istanbul, on the correct routings, otherwise it is a waste of resources. However, the European rail network is not working together on this. One answer to the problem is to call my company, Trainseurope, on 01354 660222 or call at our counter in the East Midlands Travel office, counter number 1, at St Pancras where we can solve their problems. To be fair to the other agents doing European Rail, the public can look on the website of the Association of European Rail Agents – www.aera.co.uk where they will find a list of dedicated rail agents like my company who can help.


Bob Hex Peterborough


East-West line should never have closed I was interested in your piece in the January Rail Professional on the project to re-open the East- West line – which, like a number of others, should not have been closed in the first place. Looking back at the rail


service that ran just before closure, one can see something of the problem. You mention people finding it easier/faster to travel between the two ends via London. Hardly surprising. Virtually all the trains stopped at all or most stations on the way. Most through journeys


between the two ends of the line involved a change at Bletchley. There were only two trains each way that were advertised as through-trains and these all involved a wait at Bletchley – some of significant length. These concentrations on


Bletchley were presumably to accommodate connections with the West Coast Main Line; but they did at least allow passengers to get some refreshments at the buffet, as none of the trains had any refreshment service. I think, in the past, there had been faster trains, but they had been cut. Interestingly, there has been recent correspondence in the railway press about some inter-urban rail lines in the UK, where the service has been skewed to serve small stations, with low passenger flows, to the detriment of a faster link for longer distance passengers, which would give a better cost:benefit. Hopefully, the East-West link


will concentrate on the longer distance passengers, chiefly Oxford, Bicester, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge. I see that longer distance through-services are contemplated, but am intrigued by the southern route to Stansted Airport. The Bedford to Hitchin section needs to be replaced, but is in open country. However, the Stansted


link appears to be routed via Hertford. Surely, it would be much more economic – both in construction and operation costs – to serve Stansted via Cambridge, where the route already exists.


Eric Stuart France


Delving into the past I trust Mr Shoveller has now stopped digging on the issue of the quality of the rolling stock on the Portsmouth Direct expresses. A little history, perhaps.


When the line was electrified in the mid-1930s, the fast trains were worked by suitably constructed express stock with a good range of seats, including compartments for first and third-class passengers. These units were replaced


in the mid-1960s by new stock, 4-CIGs, I believe, based on the BR Mk.1 chassis and body with mixed compartment and saloon seating. The 4-VEPs came later. In the late 1980s, the SW Division of the Southern Region rediagrammed the Class 442 fleet, and many of the express services on the Portsmouth Direct were operated by Class 442 formations.


I am inclined to agree that the Class 450 is not adequately furnished for use on the Portsmouth Direct expresses. The Class 444 seems to have been designed to have all the disadvantages of the Class 442 with none of the advantages. Perhaps, therefore, Mr.


Shoveller could be prevailed upon to re-seat a proportion of the Class 450 fleet to a standard more in keeping with the nature of the Portsmouth Direct route and timetable, which would give passengers more comfort and shorter journey times.


David Smith Western RAILS Consultancy Wiltshire


Look north Your correspondents Nigel Tarrant and Bruce Oliver would, I believe, benefit from a trip north before complaining about the use of Class 450 units on the Portsmouth to Waterloo route. Many commuters in


the cities of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle would give their eye teeth to travel in the ‘substandard’ stock used on this route.


I would imagine that the Class 450s are used in eight-car formations during the peaks, compared with two-car Class 142,143, 150 and 156 formations in the northern cities. Even the TransPennine


Express services are mainly formed of only three-car Class 185 units. Stopping services between Liverpool and Huddersfield regularly leave passengers on the platforms along the route, due to short formations of inappropriate dirty rolling stock. Please, before


complaining, find out ‘how the other half live’. The amount spent on rail infrastructure on the old Network South East areas is grossly out of proportion to the rest of the country and, unfortunately, most of the trade press only rub salt in the wounds by exaggerating the discrepancy in their reporting.


Steve Hyde Ashton-under-Lyne


MARCH 2012 PAGE 13


www.railimages.co.uk


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40