LETTER:New trains are the answer

WEST Yorkshire isn't the only area where passengers on modernised routes have to put up with clapped-out old trains ("True stories from the Great Railway Disaster", 4 February). The West London Line between Willesden and Clapham Junction - upgraded and reopened less than two years ago by the Transport minister, Steven Norris - suffers frequent cancellations because its unreliable diesel trains are over 35 years old and its operators (North London Railways) cannot get anything better from the leasing company Angel Train Contracts. The same is true of NLR's Gospel Oak-Barking and Bletchley-Bedford lines. Despite this desperate need for new trains, York trainbuilding works has recently shut down due to lack of orders. Crazy or what?

Graham Larkbey

Railway Development Society

London N6