THOSE much-maligned hobbyists, the trainspotters, will need to be at their observant best to see the new services at York Station. Because they will not be stopping.

Spotters risk a crick in the neck trying to see a high tech tilting train flash by on its way to Edinburgh. Or a Motorail service passing through heading to London.

And they face an indeterminate wait before a Eurostar service arrives at platform three.

Perhaps rail bosses need reminding that York has been a railway city for 150 years. Maybe they have forgotten that it is home to both the Northern Spirit and Great North Eastern Railways' headquarters.

They certainly seem intent on treating York, and every other city north of London and south of Edinburgh, as some sort of rural backwater.

On Monday John Prescott will open the new Edinburgh-London Motorail link at King's Cross. The service could not be handier for the Deputy Prime Minister's London office, but it is less convenient for his Hull constituents.

Motorail plans to extend the service to the Continent. Once again the only English families able to take advantage will live in the South East.

Meanwhile, European tourists choosing to use the service will arrive 200 miles away from York - either in Edinburgh or London. Just as with the Eurostar service, residents and the tourist industry of North Yorkshire are missing out.

Motorail has a stronger argument for bypassing York than Eurostar. It has to build a new terminal at every station where it plans to operate the service. That is quite an investment.

But Motorail ought to be looking at expanding the service. And York would be the obvious next step.

There is land available close to the station where a terminal could be built. A flyover or underpass would need to be built to allow cars to reach it.

If such a project were on the drawing board, it should be timed to coincide with the multi-million pound facelift of York Station announced by Railtrack yesterday. That would minimise disruption to travellers.

In the meantime, GNER should make a commitment to its York customers that the new tilting trains will stop at the station. And ministers must put the Eurostar high-speed northern link back to the top of the agenda. Mr Prescott should make it his top priority - as soon as he has finished celebrating another boost for South East travellers, that is.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.