The Lakes Line Rail User Group and I totally agree with Nigel Wilkinson, Managing Director of Windermere Lake Cruises, about major disruption on the West Coast Main Line (WCML) at peak holiday periods (Gazette, May 5, 'Rail disruption causes concern'). I'm afraid that Network Rail (NwR) is being very economical with the truth about engineering work closures of sections of WCML.

There are four points I would like to make:

• Network Rail regularly states 'fewer people travel at bank holiday weekends, so that's when we do the essential engineering work' . Are these the same weekends and the same people which the RAC was flagging up approaching the May Bank Holiday that they were expecting it to be the busiest May Bank Holiday on record?

It may well be true that commuter routes into the large cities are quieter, but the same people may well want to take their families out for a day or away for the weekend. That's one less person commuting, but perhaps four more wanting to travel in another direction.

Here, on the northern reaches of WCML north of Lancaster (at the very time the Lake District and Cumbrian tourism economies were attempting to re-invent themselves after the disastrous winter floods), the route is basically a leisure-based market, and holiday periods and weekends are obviously the busiest times when even more passengers wish to travel.

• Ahead of the May Bank Holiday weekend NwR stated that '96 per cent of the network would still be available to train operators and passengers'.

That may well have been true - however, the services on our stretch of WCML through Oxenholme are always adversely affected almost wherever the problems along its length, with significant impact such as: withdrawal of at least one of the two hourly Virgin Trains; terminating trains well short of the accessible route; retiming, causing missed connections; inadequate bus replacement. That's approaching 100 per cent disruption.

• I note that their press releases all trumpeted the fact that the 'work at Norton Bridge (north of Stafford) and Oxenholme was completed on time'. They claim that it will improve journeys in future. Is the Stafford to Crewe section the same length of line which was subject to delays, retimings, cancellations and diversions during the working week immediately after that announcement?

• I also note that on the weekend of May 7/8 the same stretch of line was closed once more. The six consecutive weekend closures through Oxenholme have been reasonably well publicised, but only after I commented to the train operators on the shortfall of information. However, the additional closure at Norton Bridge has not been as well publicised.

Of course none of these closures are in the National Rail Timetable, a copy of which I purchased in December, or those of the train operators, so they come as a surprise - knowing that the line in Staffordshire will be closed once again for two and a half days during the Spring Bank Holiday to finish the job.

Will this mean that from June Virgin Trains will finally be able to travel at 100/125mph through that section, thus avoiding the repeated delays north of there which compromise connections into our Lakes Line?

Robert Talbot

Kendal