Letter: Safer trains

Sir: you report (30 April) the findings of the Health and Safety Executive inquiry in to the railway accident at Watford. It would not have happened if a system of automatic train protection (ATP) had been in use. The same day saw a near-miss of two commuter trains outside London Cannon Street - which also would not have occurred if ATP had been in use.

Time and again we are told by those in charge of our railways that the ATP system that they have in mind is far too costly, requiring expensive computer equipment in every driving cab and at every signal. But the London Underground has a system of ATP which does not use computers - it uses the simplest of Edwardian technology - and it has worked very successfully for about ninety years. Why can't they use that?

Dr ARTHUR TARRANT

Twickenham, Middlesex