Letters: Rail progress for Britain and Europe
The news that we might get high-speed trains from London to Frankfurt is welcome (Auf Wiedersehen jet: Frankfurt by train, 20 September) but why do we have to wait until 2013? Surely the summer of 2012 would be a much better time to introduce this for visitors to the Olympics? Your article seems to assume that the users of such a service would all be business people, heads down to their laptops. For me the advantage of the train is that the journey itself is worth experiencing.
On a recent journey to Nice by train the view was worth watching from the moment we entered France – and the point where we emerged into the Rhone valley and could see the snow-capped Alps caused everyone in the carriage to gasp audibly. It's much more interesting that a flight. Your article also assumes that it's all about time: "How quickly can I get there?" If the question is: "How will this impact on the planet?" then the train is by far the more attractive option. Please tell Deutsche Bahn it can't come soon enough for me.
Peter Lewis
Nottingham
The prospect that Stratford International railway station might finally be used for cross-channel train travel could see the end of its status as a £200m white elephant.
Built on the high-speed line, but never having had a single international train service stop there, it has hitherto been an embarrassment. But with direct train travel between London and Germany, particularly Frankfurt, I am certain its value could finally be realised.
It is ideally placed to handle business passengers from nearby Canary Wharf travelling to Europe's financial hub, which is bound to reduce the demand for flights from London City airport. But, as importantly for that part of east London, it will mean Stratford International station becomes a destination itself, with all the added benefits to the local economy of businesses locating nearby.
Andrew Boff
Conservative, London assembly member
Mark Smith rightly lauds the prospect of direct high-speed train services between London, Cologne and Frankfurt, and asks: "What about a direct train service between London and Amsterdam?" Surely the question should be: "What about direct train services between Edinburgh and Paris, or Leeds and Brussels?" – or does the rest of Britain not merit integration into the European rail network?
Chris Haslam
Threshfield, North Yorkshire
London to Frankfurt for €39? If you haven't left a nought off, any chance of letting the Germans run our railways?
Charles Cronin
London
Dan Milmo reports that the Department for Transport's administrative costs are to be cut by 33% (DfT cuts could lead to hundreds of job losses, 17 September). The secretary of state for transport, Philip Hammond, awaits the McNulty report on how to reduce the costs of the railway, but early indications from the report team indicate that it will duck the real issue of Network Rail's costs and instead propose restructuring the railway and closing lines for longer periods to allow more time for maintenance, without any evidence that this will actually save costs.
The Office of Rail Regulation published a report this month that Network Rail was 34% to 40% less efficient than the best of European infrastructure managers, mainly in the maintenance and renewals area. So why did the ORR only require Network Rail to reduce its costs by 21% over five years? Surely the answer is to require NR to reduce its costs by a further 20% over the next four years while keeping lines open for longer for its customers to run trains.
It would need a new management at Network Rail committed to real and effective cost-cutting and customer service, coupled with a less arrogant approach to its main funder, the government, and its stakeholders, but this ORR evidence is surely more powerful than spurious consultants' views on costs savings from "restructuring".
Tony Berkeley
Labour, House of Lords; Chairman, Rail Freight Group; Member, Network Rail