I was appalled to read of the bid by Platinum Trains to operate services non-stop between Edinburgh and London (your report, 25 September).
I am greatly concerned that Platinum is seeking access to operating slots on the east coast main line when the Edinburgh to Newcastle stretch of the line is already congested and where space is desperately needed for the reintroduction of local s
ervices between Waverley and Berwick-on-Tweed, the development of which would see the of East Linton and Reston stations.
Platinum has no interest in serving the population of south-east Scotland and will care even less about the economic benefits the provision of a local service to Edinburgh will bring. Road transport is not a viable means of travelling to Edinburgh on a daily basis, but the railway is. Therefore, Platinum should be denied slots on the Waverley to Berwick-on-Tweed corridor until the needs of the people of Berwickshire and the eastern Borders have been met.
IAN C HANKINSON
Beanburn
Ayton, BerwickshireI note that the viability of the proposed Borders Railway has been thrown into doubt by Professor John Kay (your report, 30 September) and I recall around five years ago that a rather optimistic report on the railway reinstatement came out entitled Beeching – In Reverse.
I'm so sure that the railway will not materialise that I am already planning publishing a book in 2018 when I retire called "Beeching – Not in Reverse" dwelling on the abject failure of the reinstatement campaign. I reckon it will be a bestseller, giving me a comfortable retirement living off the royalties. Perhaps then the campaigners for the railway will get a grip and realise it's never going to happen and is all talk by politicians designed to get votes.
NICK WIRSTEN
Leslie Place
Selkirk The full article contains 304 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
