Following the two tragic railway accidents in West London on the Great Western main line, I despair at the present state of the railway industry in which I proudly served for more than 37 years.
At the time of "restructuring for privatisation", readers may recall the closure of a railway signalling design office in York with the loss of 170 jobs - despite a shortfall in resources to carry out all the resignalling work required on Britain's rail network.
One of the major investment requirements was the design and installation of Automatic Train Protection of which we had the technology but not the will of Government. I relayed my fears through this newspaper in 1995 on this issue and the "down-sizing" of design resources.
In my opinion, the fragmentation of the railway industry, the loss of so many knowledgeable and dedicated staff at all levels has degenerated into a situation where the train operators and engineering companies often show little regard to the advancement and safety of the network unless there is a healthy return to the shareholder. Unfortunately, this lack of responsibility is causing unnecessary tragedy to the travelling public and one does question if the accountants have long decided that compensation is cheaper than investment.
The last Government must take responsibility for the near destruction of the railway industry through privatisation, and also the present Government which has failed me and many others by answering concerns on investment and railway safety with replies worthy of Yes, Minister.
Even before the inquiry is underway and concluded on the latest rail accident at Ladbroke Grove, it is a fair bet that whether it be human error or signalling defect, that Automatic Train Protection would have averted this accident.
Does anyone care how much more blood has to be spilled on the railway tracks of this country or have I got it all wrong in "Rip-Off Britain"?
Peter Moss
Askham Lane, York.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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