YP Letters: North left on the sidings as South gets all the railway cash

Passengers in Sheffield have hit out over transport policy in the city.

After living in Sheffield and regularly taking trains to Manchester, Liverpool and Doncaster, I am often left disappointed by the slow running services which cost me an arm and a leg. The rolling stock is old and dilapidated (especially on the Sheffield to Doncaster route) but they also smell.

HS2 is not going to solve these problems any time soon. What we need is a connected train network that links up Northern cities. I can get a train to London quicker than I can get to Liverpool, now this is nuts.

If we really want a Northern Powerhouse this issue must be resolved quickly. I love train travel, but with more money being spent down South, coupled with a poor service and increasing fares I’ll be forced to travel by car.

From: Adrian Garner, Doncaster.

WE have a rail system that does not serve us in here in the North. We have the indignity of having the rail system that we were promised taken away from us. This is because of cost, yet the capital London gets billions for Crossrail. Why the difference?

Last year I wanted to travel from Doncaster to Southampton on a Saturday, returning four weeks later on a Tuesday. The first four alternatives I was offered involved a journey to London and a Tube journey to change stations. I managed to find a direct journey but had to book it myself as the rail journey website would not book it.

We need a fully integrated rail system that runs trains that we can afford. We have some of the highest fares in Europe for rail journeys. Scrap all franchises and have one railway company (Tony Lodge, The Yorkshire Post, August 12).

From: Ben Carroll, Sheffield.

HOW is it that Sheffield always seems to get shafted by Tory governments? Now, following another election, there’s the impressive one-two combination of cancelling the long promised electrification of our train lines followed by a price hike!

I travel to London and back on the train every week for work and it already costs me well over £100 a ticket for a grubby and uncomfortable seat.

Still, on the upside, at least they’re using the money to improve London’s already excellent public transport systems, with their unified electronic payments and 24-hour services. If it wasn’t for inflated ticket prices, I suppose I could go and look at all the shiny things they’ve spent our money on!