The great rail inquiry disaster: Letter

Sir: Further to your article about the problems of telephoning railway timetable inquiries, I have just made a local phone call from my computer to Compuserve.

In 45 seconds I had all the times of trains from my local station to the next one down the line. In a further 10 seconds I had all the trains from Minsk to Brindisi (two randomly chosen places). It included all the places where I had to change, how long I had to wait and what facilities were available on the six different trains I would have to use.

Why is it so efficient? The service is provided by Deutsche Bahn AG. Sadly, it doesn't at present include prices, but I have no doubt that this will soon come.

ROY TIPPING

Bedford