Winter trains crisis
RECENTLY, the Guardian reported briefly on the Parliamentary Select Committee which is currently looking into the Impact On Transportation Recent Adverse Weather Conditions. ie pre-Christmas 2010. I thought that the title was a bit of an understatement in all the circumstances, but it was disappointing to see that the focus, once again, didn't seem to be on the primary issue of train movement. To emphasise the point further, only last week, local TV coverage on this was just about asking people if they'd like more information. Who is going to say no, especially when a train has not arrived? As I thought I was out of time in relation to the Parliamentary investigation, I wrote directly to the Chair, Louis Ellman MP. Utilising correspondence to the Bexhill Observer, I focused on the question that most people would probaly want to have asked: what is being done to ensure trains will run in bad weather? I mentioned the fact that £3 million had been spent on a failed experiment and that trains with hot air blowers seem to operate in snowy northern Scotland. In addition I said that, as a relative outsider, I had been shocked to see just how vulnerable this part of the country is, if trains can't run.