HAVING experienced annual false dawns in the past 20 years, I shall only believe in the re-opening of the station at Haxby when it actually takes place.

But even then, the overall situation remains largely unchanged for much of the York outer area. There still seems to exist an attitude which regards places such as Haxby as local bywaters.

It's obvious to any rational person that stations passing through villages and towns should be re-opened and that the building of new housing estates should be centred on existing railway lines, rather than building where there is no such connection readily to hand.

There needs to be a complete sea change in official attitudes towards commuting in this area, with the adoption of commuting in the style of the Home Counties into London.

Whilst living there in my early working career I, along with most others, walked a half mile to my local station to catch the daily train.

The station had no car park but it didn't stop people from using the train as the preferred mode of transport. And it should not stop people doing the same here.

Stations at Haxby - for which there should be a Haxby North and a Haxby South - Strensall and Copmanthorpe would give people living in the vicinity easy access to York, Leeds, the trans-Pennine and London routes, all of which are much wanted and well overdue.

And it should not take the presentation of a business case - the political get-out - to do it. It should be an article of faith to open substantial numbers of stations along existing railway lines as possible.

Then, and only then, will this country have something approaching a transport infrastructure.

J C Potter,

Eastfield Avenue,

Haxby,

York.

Updated: 11:09 Tuesday, June 14, 2005