Lost opportunity

Gordon Casely (Letters, 26 May) is right to highlight the woeful inadequacy of the diesel trains used by ScotRail for long-distance journeys.

Equally bad are the similar trains which the Department for Transport in London foisted onto travellers between Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester when the franchise for that route was taken from Virgin and handed to Transpennine Express – also a FirstGroup company like ScotRail. The suburban-style trains on this route, which is more than 220 miles long, have only three carriages and two toilets, and are frequently overcrowded.

Just to add insult to injury, the Department for Transport is now reported to have rejected the idea of introducing higher quality inter-city trains on this route, and instead has ordered ten very basic electric units – with the same inadequate suburban-style of layout as the current diesel trains.

It is a lost opportunity to develop the obvious business and leisure potential on this route and divert passengers from air travel. Where is the vision of the train operators and the Westminster government to improve public transport infrastructure in the UK?

Robert Drysdale

Primrose Bank Road

Edinburgh