Why the switch was pulled

I consider Neil Thompson’s article on electrification ( RAIL 836) to be an apologia for what has become the most disastrous episode in recent British railway history.

The outcome of all that has been planned is that Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling has cancelled large parts of Mr Thompson’s programme. Not postponed or “paused” - but cancelled!

In the end, the Minister couldn’t stomach the vast cost overruns and endless problems thrown up by the manner in which (especially) the Great Western Main Line scheme has been executed by the planners and engineers.

In the GWML scheme and the way it has been handled, our always-Luddite politicians have been handed on a plate a perfect excuse to cry “stop!”

Bi-modes are now advanced as being the answer to these problems and the awful cost overruns. In fact, bi-modes were originally intended not to fill in ridiculous gaps in the wiring (for example, around Bath and Bristol), but to enable services to be prolonged beyond the natural limit of wiring (for example, beyond Swansea, southwest from Bristol, Newark to Lincoln, and so on).

Astonishingly, I find myself in the difficult position of actually understanding Grayling’s position for once, even though I consider our politicians are basically Luddites where electrification is concerned in the UK.

Otherwise, we would have all of our major lines electrified by now, instead of the current limited, patchy wiring. UK governments have always had to be dragged kicking and screaming towards any new electrification proposal.

and end up with such stress that he could even have a heart attack. Is that the way the railways think they should be run?

This idea is utterly unnecessary. It defies logic as far as passengers are concerned and should be removed from the discussions completely.

Instead, real improvements to this service should be introduced, such as a Norwich-Liverpool late-evening train. At present the last one terminates at Nottingham in early evening, making a day out impossible. This affects the Cambridge connections as well.