[Belmont Road]

Some good points in this latest reply.

We tend to remember the things we liked about BR. However, strikes were one thing that were fairly common. I was stranded more than once by these.

Part of the splitting up meant that a national rail strike was very difficult to achieve. The NUR now the RMT have a had a proud history but I do feel that the current leadership is more involved in political change than representing their members.

The leasing companies have had a bad press. But would BR have gone down the same route? Many think so. It would - on paper - have saved millions on the capital account and reduced subsidy in the short term - whenever did politicians think long term?

However, leasing is the norm in other transport. Almost all large bus companies do it as do many airlines. It does make good business sense, otherwise they wouldn't do it.

The railway model was investigated a few years back and the ROSCo's were found to be efficient.

Britain's railway needs reform to get costs down, there are many things wrong. Not least on a practical level - rescuing broken down trains - one area being where one failed unit can disrupt an entire days operation. Caused entirely by the TOC's not investing in standby locos etc.

Apparently it is cheaper to pay compensation than to have rescue infrastructure in place. There are many examples of perverse regulations in the industry that should be swept aside.