Don’t fence us in

HOW does it come about that much of the new Borders Railway is festooned in secure high-wire fencing? The “security” of much of this stuff would do credit to Colditz Castle. Who is behind such extensive ‘elf’n’safety nonsense, such as now surrounds stations at Stow, Gorebridge and ­Galashiels?

On mainland Europe, I’ve yet to see a single palisade lining a railway, even alongside main lines carrying 14-coach high-speed intercity expresses.

Yet here in Scotland, mile upon successive mile of high-security fences swathes the trackside.

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Try the Airdrie to Bathgate line for such unscenic value, or the Perth-Dundee line.

These security fences do nothing at all to create customer attraction, nor railway enhancement.

On the otherwise splendid Borders line, they uglify our new railway.

Gordon Casely

Crathes, Kincardineshire