On the right track
It is truly funny to read young people, born after British Rail ended in 1994, talking of the era as “a golden age”. Some of us remember the sandwiches!
The reality is that our Victorian
infrastructure is being transformed by Network Rail and Abellio Scotrail with their investment of £858m and £475m respectively. With passenger numbers having doubled in just 20 years, that was vital.
It was unfair to criticise the Dutch company for old, uncomfortable trains which they inherited, if not their habit of skipping certain train stations.
Today the 70 Hitachi Class 385 electric trains, delayed
for windscreen safety reasons, are extremely impressive. With the original Edinburgh/glasgow trains being dispersed around Scotland the complaints about speed, capacity, punctuality, safety, energy efficiency and comfort are being addressed.
The electrification of the route and visible improvements at Edinburgh Waverley certainly trump rose-tinted memories of BR.
JOHN V LLOYD Keith Place, Inverkeithing