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The value of ticket offices

For once, I disagree with Christian Wolmar. I question his assertion that closing ticket offices on London Underground has not led to a deterioration in services (RAIL 956).

For those of us from ‘the sticks’, it has. It’s bizarre to see once-busy underground ticket offices at Kings Cross/St Pancras with the present part-time enquiry office, and people coming off the Eurostar floundering and not knowing where to go.

London Underground is a simple system compared with the national rail network. London is not like the rest of the UK. Ideas from London are not all applicable elsewhere. Ticket offices should be retained.

Although I have used online bookings, I prefer to use the knowledge of ticket office staff, which has saved me money. Try the challenge of changing a ticket bought online to realise the value of helpful ticket office staff.

The Government may engineer a dispute with unions, but the latter’s traditional response of strike action may not be appropriate. When the John Major government threatened a Post Office sell-off, Alan Johnson led the Union of Communications Workers with an imaginative campaign targeting rural groups concerned about loss of services to lobby their MPs. It worked.

Unions need to make similar links with users and potential users, to limit damage done by

Government cuts.

As Christian says, co-operation is an answer. But will pressures for savings come at the expense of collaborative ideas to develop and enhance the quality of rail travel?

Roger Backhouse, York

Darlington disadvantages

As a resident of Teesside, I wish I could share the enthusiasm for the Mayor of Tees Valley’s aspiration to use Darlington as a hub for transforming “local services”, with or without the benefit of hydrogen (Industry Insider, RAIL 957).

The plain fact is that Darlington, geographically, is much too far west to be a “hub” in any conventional sense.

The main Teesside conurbation (Stockton, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Hartlepool) is between eight and 22 miles from Bank Top station, and much of it is served by through train services to and from York, Leeds, Manchester and London.

Existing local train services link just about everywhere between Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, Stockton and Hartlepool with Sunderland, Newcastle, Metrocentre and Hexham, as well as with the Whitby line. None of these journeys go anywhere near Darlington.

What gaps there are in our service provision (and there are

certainly plenty) could most readily be met by two simple local modifications - one to Grand Central’s SunderlandLondon services, and the other to TransPennine Express Manchester Airport-Redcar Central trains, which will be extended to Saltburn this December.

The first would be to stop Grand Central trains at Stockton, between Eaglescliffe and Hartlepool. The second would be to add a stop at Eaglescliffe for TPE trains. (At the moment, they run non-stop between Yarm and Thornaby before reaching Middlesbrough.)

But neither of these changes would call for any enhancement at Darlington.

Peter Walker, Middlesborough

Onus on the taxpayers

I suppose it was inevitable that the publication of Christian Wolmar’s latest book and the opening of the Elizabeth line would prompt yet another highly political rant from Mr Wolmar about the evils of our government (RAIL 958).

He tries to sweep aside the massive project delay and overspend, and largely ignores the incompetence of the project management and of Transport for London.

His attempt to shelter under the ‘Magic Money Tree’ is naive.

“Don’t worry about cost over-runs. There is always someone to pick up the ‘tab’ in the public sector,” he seems to say.

Yes, Christian, it’s me and other readers of this magazine taxpayers who have to balance the books and, of course, the private sector.

Let’s be absolutely clear. Cost, reliability and on-time delivery do matter - particularly for a modern railway and its passengers.

Dr Michael R. Dyer, Cheshire

New routes and projects

I completely agree with C S Terry’s comments on the loss of freight capacity (Open Access, RAIL 957).

Probably within the next decade, there will be great debate on what to knock down and how to pay for the new routes and the infrastructure required to meet new railway projects.

Don’t forget that Dr Beeching was an accountant, and the UK is still trying to come to grips with the havoc he caused.

John Harrod, Bures, Essex

Feet off the seats

Am I the only one dismayed by the comments of Liverpool Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram (RAIL 958)?

He says please don’t put your feet on the seats now, because the trains are now owned by Merseyrail and not a private operator.