Union leader Crow on right track over East Coast – for once

I VERY rarely feel an urgent urge to put pen to paper but as a regular weekly East Coast rail train passenger from Leeds to London, I feel I must comment on the article from Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT Union (Yorkshire Post, November 2).

I have no wish to take a political stance but must agree with much of what Bob Crow says. I have been travelling this route for well over 20 years and have witnessed the various attempts by private franchise operators of this route to combine making a profit with improving the service and experience of all rail travellers.

They have all failed miserably to achieve a gold star service, and while many in this country would be very much against state control of our businesses we now have here an example of best practice and success by East Coast trains which is returning substantial profits to the taxpayer.

Why try and mend something that is clearly not broken just to fulfil a political belief (in this case wrongly so) that private means profit? Everything about the new service on East Coast is an improvement. More trains to choose from, friendly well-trained staff, better catering, more choice of ticket prices, an excellent rewards scheme which is all adding to many more passengers travelling by rail. Isn’t that what this government wants?

So David Cameron, leave things as they are on East Coast and plough your efforts into improving the many things in this country that need improving and accept that for once state ownership of a little bit of our rail network is good for business and your customers.

From: David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

IT is not very often that I agree with much that Bob Crow, leader of the RMT Union says, but I agree with 95 per cent of what he has said in his article (Yorkshire Post, November 2) about the attempt by the coalition Government to privatise the East Coast main line again.

I wish him good luck in preventing this huge error from taking place. Here the Left are right!

From: Mr RM Whitaker, Dale View, Hardwick Road, Pontefract.

I COULD never have imagined that I would ever agree with the mutterings of Bob Crow (Yorkshire Post, November 2).

However, he is, in my opinion, absolutely right in his argument about not returning the East Coast main line (ECML) to the private sector.

Why would it be better run next time round when the two previous private owners failed?

We are often told that we have the highest rail fares in Europe, and the French and Germans run very efficient railways, so would they be able to reduce our fares to European levels, or would it be, as Bob Crow argues, users of the ECML continuing to pay higher fares to subsidise rail fares in Paris or Berlin?

While he says “that the fight is not yet over and the RMT will continue to battle to stop what amounts to the greatest rail rip-off”, I do hope it doesn’t mean calling a strike, because in the end the public will be suffer and his members will probably be the losers.

Perhaps an e-petition might be a good starting point.

From: Bob Watson, Springfield Road, Baildon, Shipley.

IN response to my recent letter (Yorkshire Post, October 28), Metro chairman James Lewis (Yorkshire Post, November 1) rightly confirms that they are already promoting the electrification of the Leeds and Harrogate to York line, and also the opening of stations at Kirkstall Forge, Apperley Bridge and Low Moor – although it has to be said that these stations have been promised for some years.

He also mentioned other matters that are being progressed, plus improvements that will be forthcoming from the new Northern Hub.

However, he made no mention whatever of other matters raised including support for re-opening the Skipton to Colne line nor the Spen Valley line.

There was also a deafening silence on a cross-city rail link for Bradford despite the myriad of new travel opportunities that this would bring, including taking pressure off the already congested rail network around Leeds Station.

It is precisely this sort of lack of foresight that will bedevil future generations as the relevant authorities are simply nothing like forward-thinking enough.

There is much more that still needs to be done and, if 
not immediately, at least put in prospective plans for the future.