Having recently returned from my favourite holiday destination in southern Spain, travelling by train to avoid flying, I can testify to the excellence of the Spanish rail system, as described by María Ramírez (Spain’s high-speed trains aren’t just efficient, they have transformed people’s lives, 11 October). High-speed trains arrive and leave on time, linking all major towns and cities. They are comfortable and clean, and well-trained staff are in attendance at all times. It is difficult not to be envious, and tempting to see a high-speed rail system as the answer to all our transport woes.
Looking out of the window as the train flies through the Spanish countryside, however, it is also difficult not to be struck by the huge difference between this landscape and ours. Endless miles of vineyards, olive groves or wild and unproductive terrain are unencumbered by urban development. It is not easy, nor necessarily appropriate, to transfer a network of this kind to our small and densely populated island, with its remaining pockets of precious habitats.
Any future administration that inherits the legacy of HS2 will have to set the economic imperative for an improved rail network, especially in the north, not to mention the basic requirements of the travelling public, against affordability, value for money and the particular constraints of the British landscape. High speed may not be the most important factor and is perhaps what has led to the current fiasco.
Cathy Swann
Alresford, Hampshire
• María Ramírez has shown how it is possible to build and operate a high-speed railway without the dithering and retrenchment which has blighted HS2. One of the biggest differences between HS2 and the continental and Asian high-speed networks is the relentlessly negative coverage in the British mainstream media. Without this almost daily onslaught, it would have been much more difficult for Rishi Sunak to deliver the coup de grace. From the early development of the Japanese Shinkansen through to the French TGV and networks in Spain, Germany and Italy, these countries have expressed pride in their new railways.
I recall Michael Portillo enthusiastically promoting the first Spanish high-speed line from Madrid to Seville on one of his earliest railway trips abroad. In contrast, there has been very little recognition of the positive aspects of high-speed rail in the UK, and there has been no recognition that HS1 through Kent is now successfully integrated into the landscape, and well-accepted locally. If the northern sections of HS2 are ever revived, it is clear that more attention needs to be given to the benefits of the scheme, and to counter negative coverage, much of it exaggerated or misleading. Or perhaps we British just don’t like railways.
Steven Clark
St Albans, Hertfordshire
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