Rail failings

Alastair Dalton (11 September) is right to criticise the official airbrushing of flaws in the way the much-needed Borders Railway has been delivered.

As campaigners have long warned, we are now reaping the consequences of the cut-back in double-track from 16 miles to 9.5 miles – too many trains are running late, and the problem is compounded by too many of these trains being just two coaches long rather than four or six coaches.

Passengers new to rail will not put up with having to stand in discomfort, and Abellio/Network Rail are in serious danger of squandering much of the enthusiasm and excitement generated in the first few days of the new railway.

As Dalton rightly implies, skimping on the infrastructure specification would never be tolerated in road schemes like the A9 dualling. Why does the Scottish Government continue to treat road and rail so differently?

David Spaven

(Author, Waverley Route: the Battle for the 
Borders Railway)

Church Hill Drive

Edinburgh