THANK you for the wide-ranging informative coverage of rail-related articles (Gazette, December 14). It turned out to be very pertinent and almost prophetic, in that on the very day people were reading their copies of the Gazette, Arriva Rail North (Northern) reached a nadir by cancelling 10 trains on the Lakes Line.

That, in a long sequence, in which trains were cancelled on 10 out of 11 days, at a rate of 25 per cent on a quarter of the days. First Group, in two privatised railway franchises, didn’t cancel that number in 20 years! A rather damning indictment of Northern's performance.

With regards of 'HS2 trains to bypass county' technically it’s all of Cumbria’s three West Coast Main Line stations which are being ‘bypassed’, not the county through which the HS2 trains will travel, only to be marvelled at longingly by train spotters (but only at 100mph on conventional track because, unlike the present electric Pendolinos and diesel Voyagers, these trains won't have tilting capability).

What the article didn’t fully convey is that there have been just three references to the residual service on offer at our stations. One is a map showing our services from the north terminating at the new HS2 Birmingham station, so we will not be able to access cross country services to the south coast or the south-west; secondly, text stating that the current London to Glasgow direct service will go no further north than Preston; lastly, a footnote that “passengers for the Lake District will need to change at Preston”.

Of course, there are dis-benefits to getting on to trains which are mid-journey - that’s in addition to “the potential for missing connections” – namely, not being able to find a seat, as well as significant transfer problems for those passengers with a disability, with luggage, or looking after young children.

It will also mean that the first possible arrival in our capital from Windermere and Kendal with one change of train will be into the afternoon. Currently the first comparable journey is into Euston just after 10am (the time which from next May a connecting train will depart Windermere), hardly progress or improvement for the billions of pounds' investment and all of the disruption to our journeys over the next decade and more.

People can access London from all of (by then our ex-partners) Europe and much of the rest of the world before noon. This ‘service’ is more like the third world.

Those who have a say in planning future passenger railway services need to be reminded of the Lake District’s new World Heritage Site status, and the growth in the number of visitors it will bring. This area needs and deserves better than what is presently on offer.

Moving to our local train service ('Usage plummets on unreliable Lake Line'), I have no confidence in Northern Rail’s ‘working to address the number of difficulties’. They have had 18 months to sort out problems which didn’t even exist when they inherited the service on April 1 last year.

They are entirely of Northern’s making, and the situation is deteriorating by degrees. No amount of new trains will be of any help if there isn’t sufficient staff to operate them. It’s as basic as that.

To summarise: the DfT took our through cross country trains away several years ago; we have three-hour gaps in service from London and to Birmingham; the present level of frequency between Manchester and Windermere is useless; we have inherited 30-year old cast-off trains from elsewhere; electrification of the Lakes Line has been cancelled; and, in the long term, there will be no through trains with our capital.

Oh dear, what a catalogue. In all, it’s a very poor ‘do’.

Robert Talbot

LLRUG, Kendal.