NORTH EAST AT THE END OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT QUEUE AGAIN

Stockton Liberal Democrats deplore the news that once again the North East is left waiting at the end of the public-transport queue. We in the North East are the ones who have to put up with trains designed for another age, when rail passengers here seemed to be a disappearing species. It seems that whoever decided on the long wheelbase of these Pacers did not think of the unearthly screeches they would emit when going round tight curves, such as on the Whitby line and in Gateshead.

We hope that the World will come to us for the bicentenary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 2025. Express trains now enable people to come by train easily to Eaglescliffe or Darlington - it is even possible to travel by rail in one day from as far afield as the South of France or northern Italy - but the local connecting trains hardly give the image of a modern, go-ahead region.

Owing to the fragmented way in which Britain's privatised railway system is run, we Pacer passengers here are waiting for one company's late finishing of work for another company's passengers elsewhere to get new trains so that we can have their cast-offs.