Crying foul over DfT plan

I see the Department for Transport is keen to encourage rail travel for football fans ( RAIL 873). Is this serious or an ironic joke?

I am a 71-year-old Ipswich fan and season ticket holder who lives in London, within walking distance of Liverpool Street station.

Over the past few years, I have been unable to see home matches as often as I would like, as on perhaps half of weekend match days no trains run on the Great Eastern Main Line, due to constant maintenance. Or is it a complete rebuilding for 140mph trains?

To be fair, I have occasionally used the replacement buses, but the problem is that they make the journey well over an hour longer.

I had to watch the two Ipswich-Norwich matches on television, as both were scheduled for midday on Sundays and to get to the match would probably have needed an overnight stay!

I accumulated my pension pot by writing software to schedule resources on complicated projects. Surely Network Rail, Greater Anglia, the Premier League and the English Football League can agree a plan that is better than the current shambles.

Pairs of four-car Class 755 trains could run reduced services via Cambridge.

If the line is blockaded between Ipswich and London, then a direct service could be run between Norwich and London via Ipswich and Cambridge.

If the line is blockaded between Ipswich and Norwich, then a direct service could be run between Norwich and London via Cambridge.

Although, this has nothing to do with football, pairs of Class 755s would also be useful for running a service between Peterborough and London when the southern section of the East Coast Main Line is closed. James Miller, London