Letter: A ticket to travel anywhere

It comes as no surprise that Mr Major only used the rail services once last year ("Major Abandons Dwindling Railway" 8 January). A rail journey of any reasonable distance can only be viewed at present as a form of masochism; soon it will be a near impossibility.

As your editorial also highlights, the latest changes to our previously underfunded and incompetent network can only further reduce the efficiency of the service. Privatisation of British Rail is bound to have this effect - was it ever in question?

Britain can only lose from the fragmentation of its national rail network. Those of us who still use rail as our principal mode of travel view each new "reform" with disbelief. The Conservatives, despite recently acknowledging what everyone already knows, that the growth of private car ownership is nothing short of environmental disaster, seem steadfast in their campaign to increase the growth of the car by systematically destroying the only alternative.

M T and D G Medley Hexham