The following is extracted from the Guardian Letters of Saturday March 13th 2010. One feels that the author could be living in Marsden or Slaithwaite rather than Littleborough. What use is a high speed train if one cannot get to it, because the local service is so poor?
• Before everyone gets even more excited about the high-speed rail link, shouldn’t the government be looking at improving the medium-speed rail links? The service on the transpennine Calderdale line, which serves Leeds and Manchester, and Bradford and Halifax and the surrounding conurbations, is erratic and infrequent. The engines and coaches, which are often dirty, are secondhand. At the local station, you cannot access the platforms if you have a pram or wheelchair and there is no shelter – imagine that in the recent Pennine winter when trains were frequently late or cancelled. Manchester Victoria station would take the prize for the worst city station in the UK. Overcrowding this winter was at times almost unbearable; the trains are nicknamed the sardine trains. Commuters often choose to go by car because the service is so unreliable. If there is to be a more attractive rail service, it should start with the here and now.
Rae Street
Littleborough, Lancashire
