Is sacrifice worth it to save just ten minutes?

As a lifelong railway user and supporter, I object to being called a “Luddite” and “Nimby” by Philip Hammond in the national press and Jan Gillett in the local press. A new north-south railway may be needed: it is the route that is wrong.

By The Newsroom

Published 14th Jul 2011, 09:57 BST

Both Labour and Conservative politicians have the male obsession with speed. They have drawn a straight line across the map of Britain for the route they want, maintaining that existing transport corridors have too many curves for a “modern” train travelling at 400 k/mph. England is criss-crossed with railways already – a relic of the railway boom of the 19th century. We should recycle these as much as possible.

Birmingham to London is about 200 km. At 400 km/hr this takes 30 minutes. At 300 km/hr it takes 40 minutes. Is it worth sacrificing acres of good agricultural land and spoiling the beautiful scenery of the Chilterns to save less than ten minutes on this stage of a longer journey? Speed may be essential in large countries such as China and Canada – it is a marginal issue in a small island. - Marianne Pitts, Leam Terrace, Leamington.