Letters to the editor | 14 January 2006

Our successful railways

From Adrian Lyons
Sir: Your leading article (7 January) suggested that railway operators are a cartel bent on exploiting their customers, but this is grossly unfair. Fares have risen, but an overall increase of 3 per cent above inflation since 1995 hardly constitutes ‘steeply rising prices’. Furthermore, a tremendous range of fares and journey options is on offer. Your leader quoted one London–Manchester rail fare without giving the bigger picture. This morning I could have bought a return for travel today for less than £60.

Nor do I believe that railway operators would consider the industry to be risk-free. All the recent franchise competitions have resulted in the winners committing to pay hundreds of millions in premiums against very demanding performance targets.

A combination of factors — economic growth, increasing road congestion, better marketing — has driven patronage sharply upwards. We are now the fastest-growing railway in Europe, with 40 per cent passenger growth in 10 years. We have recently overtaken France in terms of total passenger numbers. Since 2002 we have outstripped the Chancellor, as rail growth has beaten economic growth hands down.

If you really want to contribute to the debate, you should be pressing the Conservatives to create policies that enable our increasingly successful railways to play a full part in sustaining Britain’s economic growth.
Adrian Lyons
Director General, The Railway Forum, London SW1

How to live

From Professor Robin Jacoby
Sir: As a psychiatrist who has written reports in more than 30 homicide cases, I can wholeheartedly confirm Theodore Dalrymple’s thesis that the majority of murderers are unfit for life (‘Murder mystery’, 7 January). But the picture he paints also illustrates their lack of self-restraint and predilection for instant gratification.

My experience led me to formulate my law of homicide which states that the victim nearly always ‘asks for it’.