YP Letters: Excuses now arriving at Platform One

From: Martin J Phillips, Tinshill Lane, Leeds.
The North's rail network is in the spotlight.The North's rail network is in the spotlight.
The North's rail network is in the spotlight.

CONCERNING Tom Richmond’s recent articles highlighting the problem of longer trains and shorter platforms (The Yorkshire Post, June 2), do not be at all surprised if the rail operators (Northern and TransPennine Express) use the shortness of some platforms as an excuse for not introducing the promised new, longer trains. They have been promising this new rolling stock for years and this has been one of their excuses for not introducing them.

With some operators trying to run trains without guards (driver only) there is a likelihood that this could also be used as a way of not introducing new, longer trains, as it would be much harder for the driver to monitor passengers entering or leaving trains if there are more carriages.

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Going back to pre-privatisation, the cost of new stations or extending existing platforms was far cheaper. In fact Metro financed some of the pre-privatisation work. After privatisation, the cost of such work increased ten-fold.

If all the railways were stiil run by a nationalised British Rail, I doubt there would have been all the chaos caused by the introduction of new train timetables. The different franchises mean that there is no coordination or integration of services for people who have to change trains during their journey.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that there is no longer a direct rail service between Leeds and Blackpool.

Another problem with the local trains is the withdrawl of the Metro train timetables. These were colour-coded to fit in with the Metro ‘overground’ map (using the same sort of mapping as the London Underground).

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Having to use Northern’s timetables makes it far harder to get about West Yorkshire by train.

We will have to wait and see if things improve at all on the railways. Northern in particular seem to be going out of their way to be less ‘user-friendly’ with all the new ticketing and regulations they are introducing. They seem intent of punishing passengers.

From: John Turley, Dronfield Woodhouse.

CHRIS Grayling (The Yorkshire Post, May 31, and June 4,5 and 6), reminds me so much of many managers from when I was working, who would blame everyone else for problems which were caused by a bad management decision in the first place, in this case the botched privatisation of British Rail.

Furthermore I note that he tries to shift most of the blame onto the state-owned Network Rail rather than the privatised rail operating companies.

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I know that the old British Rail, on which I frequently travelled, was not perfect, but never suffered from problems on the present scale.

Such problems would be unthinkable in France and Germany with the state-owned SNCF and Deutsche Bahn.

The best way to solve the problems would be to bring the railways back into public ownership, which is what the majority of the travelling public want.

Vulnerable need support

From: Ged Dempsey, Denman Road, Wath upon Dearne, Rotherham.

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IN the recent past, we have witnessed the closure of all the local council’s elderly homes and meals on wheels services.

Now, yet another service faces being axed or outsourced, to make the council’s role more irrelevant and redundant.

I regret, and oppose, the latest decision against the vulnerable, to close the Learning Disabilities (LD) day care centres and respite facilities at Wath and Maltby.

It is not a very enlightened approach.

Not everyone can or wishes to go into independent living and they deserve a choice – for the status quo to prevail where they settled.

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A Labour council of whatever hue should be fighting for our communities and against Tory austerity, rather than deciding where to cut or obliterate services.

M-way move welcomed

From: Amanda Stretton, Confused.com motoring editor.

ALLOWING learner drivers to practice on motorways is something that many road users have long been asking for.

It means that less experienced drivers will learn how to use motorways and switch lanes safely before they get their licence (The Yorkshire Post, 
June 4).

Our research shows that that almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of drivers believe that motorway driving should be added to the test.

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While driving on the motorway still won’t officially be tested, allowing learner drivers to practice could be a significant step to improving the standard of driving in the UK.

We encourage learners to 
keep calm when driving on motorways for the first time and to pay close attention to the motorway rules and speed limits to ensure safety for all on UK roads.

Lazy attack on civil servants

From: Margaret Foster, Selby Road, Garforth.

ON behalf of my son and his co-workers at the Department for International Development, I must strongly object to them being called “time-serving bureaucrats” by AJA Smith (The Yorkshire Post, June 2).

It is a lazy platitude rolled out far too frequently.

While he has a point in 
arguing against using a percentage GDP figure for foreign aid (in fact, for forward planning it would be far 
more sensible to have a fixed sum), I don’t think he realises what a committed team of 
people from all backgrounds actually work in the department, and how their efforts on our behalf make a real difference 
in the world.

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