Off the rails

Published on Wednesday 4 November 2009 20:05

It is bad enough that finance secretary John Swinney announced another year's delay in completing the Borders railway (your report, 4 November), without your depressing leader suggesting the project should stop at Gorebridge adding to our dismay locally.

I accept that the scale of new housing around the Gorebridge/Newtongrange/Eskbank area makes that section economically attractive, but it is also the most expensive to construct, including necessary new access over the Edinburgh bypass. From Gorebridge south the track-bed is there and waiting. The alternative route from Galashiels to Edinburgh is the twisting A7, made increasingly dangerous over the past decade by the dramatic growth in numbers and size of articulated lorries supplying supermarkets.

Back in 1966, I, as the Borders MP, persuaded the local authorities to club together to finance the Hibbs report, which suggested, as an alternative to closing the Waverley line, the retention of a branch line as far as Hawick, with unmanned halts and much single-track working. The failure of the management of British Rail and then minister of transport Richard Marsh at least to give that a try was short-sighted in the extreme, and it is grossly untrue for you to portray the current, even more limited proposal as "a pork-barrel deal between Labour and the Lib Dems continued by the SNP". On the contrary, it would be, as Mr Swinney said, "a significant catalyst for economic growth in the Borders". It is just a pity his actions do not match his words.

DAVID STEEL

House of Lords

London

John Swinney's view that a railway would bring major economic benefits to the Borders is not supported by evidence or experience elsewhere. Kilmarnock, with good rail services to Glasgow and the south, has lost many jobs. So have parts of Renfrewshire and Fife which are well served by rail, as are towns such as Cumnock and Shotts, both depressed places.

The Borders route would be mainly a commuter line for a tiny percentage of residents. It would have few benefits over buses, but require heavy permanent public subsidy. Homes for Edinburgh workers should be built within 30 minutes' travel of the city and there is ample land for this. The proposal is a 19th-century solution to a 21st-century problem.

JOHN MUNRO

Buccleuch St

Glasgow

Let's not get too fussed on behalf of the small minority of individuals ever likely to want to pay the 1,002 return rail fare from Kyle of Lochalsh to Newquay (your report, 4 November). But let's really create a storm over the price and complexity of rail fares.

What people pay depends on the time and day they travel, their foresight in booking well ahead and their wit in identifying the best deals. It all acts as a deterrent to getting on an environmentally friendly form of transport. Passengers and taxpayers should expect a fare structure which is affordable, rational and easy to understand.

BOB TAYLOR

Shiel Court

Glenrothes