Comfort and affordability are more important than speed

THE fact that the Yorkshire Post lends its support to the proponents of the high speed rail link leaves me wondering whether anybody can see the wood for the trees?

Speed as such between Yorkshire, London and Scotland is not the pressing issue whereas comfort and affordable fares are what the majority of rail users are really wanting, nay demanding.

If the claim of “a million jobs” had any credibility (Yorkshire Post, July 27), it was totally destroyed by the Government’s recent decision to award the latest contract to Siemens instead of Bombardier.

Whenever I travel by train to London, which admittedly is not that often, I see mile upon mile of derelict railway sidings and waste land which is not only an eyesore but shows that money should be spent on our existing railway network.

We need proper marshaling yards so that heavy goods and freight in general can be transported throughout the night and kept off our overcrowded roads which could then be repaired to a decent standard and all the millions of dangerous pot holes filled and resurfaced.

For once I hope that the “Tory nimbys” will persuade their Government to think again.

From: A Allan, Beeston, Leeds.

I CAST my mind back some 25 years to when the 125 train ran between York and Edinburgh.

This train did 125mph as the name implies. However, this speed was only attained on about 10 per cent of the journey, the remainder of the track was not suitable for high speeds. The same will be found and more so, on the HS2.

It’s my contention most of the travelling public would be happy to have a journey speed of 70mph, the rest is pretension.

Some form of overhead rail may be the answer; it needn’t be ugly to the eye.

From: AG Clothier, Boroughbridge Road, Knaresborough.

WHY is it unacceptable to cast doubts on the merits of high speed rail?

You gave short shrift to the report from the Institute of Economic Affairs (Yorkshire Post, July 20), which raised some very pertinent points regarding the extent of any benefit for Yorkshire in the near future.

The high speed train seems to have become somthing of a cult, the must have accessory.

Japan built theirs at the height of their prosperity. For China and Brazil enjoying boom times and not having well established infrastructures, they make sense. France got on with theirs while things were relatively cheap and Paris-Lyon was a bigger step than London to Birmingham.

How Spain is getting on with its link to the French system in its present financial difficulties would be interesting.

Just like municipal tower blocks in the 1970s, because the neighbours have one does not mean we have to!

I was told that privatisation would bring capital flooding in to our essential services, It looks to me that funding will only be available if the taxpayer underwrites it.

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

I’M in favour of a new high speed rail link, and hope the views of nimbys with their Chelsea tractors can be discounted. However, if you are talking about Yorkshire having good connections with such a line (Yorkshire Post, July 24), then I plead for Lincolnshire’s interests to be taken into consideration.

For we in Grimsby and Cleethorpes still don’t have a direct service to London.

From: David Collins, Westfield Drive, Skelmanthorpe.

I HAVE read with interest and to some extent disbelief at recent articles on the high speed rail link. Much of the subject matter is bordering on propaganda. Millions of jobs lost is clearly nonsense.

The relationship between travel at speed and employment is somewhat tenuous. I think the most quoted line being “high speed link to London” says it all. It is not a link from London but to London. This is just a continuation of the capital sucking in resources and talent from the rest of the country possibly at higher speed.

People in the North are supposed to be grateful that a certain class of person can get to London 40 minutes quicker, and that is of benefit to us.

What we need is money spent on levering power and influence permanently northwards. Unfortunately, the people with power to change this are themselves key to this parasitic behaviour, being Westminster and those connected with it.