Replacement of Pacers should just be part of rail revamp

it is truly excellent news that the Prime Minister has stated that all bidders for the next Northern Rail franchise “will be required to propose plans for the removal of Pacers” (The Yorkshire Post, November 7).

However, the one good thing you can say about a Pacer is that it is better than nothing, and currently there is a significant shortage of diesel trains across the whole of the rail network.

There are, therefore, two key questions to be answered. The first is what will replace the Pacers? The development of electrification in both the North and elsewhere is too slow for all the Pacers to be replaced by more modern diesel trains displaced by electrification.

Lines not yet approved for electrification but crying out for it, such as the Calder Valley, Harrogate and Hope Valley, are most unlikely to be electrified this decade.

The second is that the most important issue for passengers is not the replacement of the Pacers but the need for a large increase in the number of diesel train sets in the region.

If the Prime Minister really means what he has said, the Government will take urgent steps to order sufficient new diesel trains to address the current critical issues of overcrowded trains, inadequate service levels, the forthcoming loss of the Class 170s, and the replacement of the Pacers.

It is the least that Yorkshire and the rest of the North requires.

From: Graham Lund, 
Rydal, Cumbria.

This week we have seen a high-profile story saying that we should seriously reduce use of fossil fuels by the end of the century owing to the likelihood of climate change. We also have calls to increase capacity on the M62. The latter is surely absurd.

We are currently witnessing continued growth in rail travel which is likely to continue. There are considerable gaps in the rail network which can still be filled. The Woodhead route should be reopened to give a high speed link for passengers and freight between Sheffield and Manchester.

Sheffield and Leeds are still not connected by a conventional electric line which, with further infill work should be authorised regardless of any talk of HS3.

Leeds-Barnsley-Sheffield-Nottingham should be electrified throughout to compete with motorways. Yes, give us a much faster trans-Pennine electric railway and at the expense of the roads of which we surely have enough.