Convert duplicated main lines to motorways
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THINK many people will agree with Mr. Jackson Moore's opinion that Mrs. Castle's White Paper is "absolutely diabolical" and I was also pleased that he thinks, "the rail tracks should all be paved with concrete".
This idea has been gaining favour for many years but railway conversion is still very much in its infancy and so far only small projects, few of which use more than 6 miles of railway track in a continuous stretch, have been completed.
What is really needed is the conversion of duplicated main lines such as the Midland and Great Central railways which could provide alternative motorways to relieve the pressure on M1 as well as carrying M1 traffic into St. Pancras and Marylebone.
I am sure that many commercial vehicles which at present climb the long steep gradients on the southbound carriageway of M1 from the Trent Valley to Charnwood summit would gladly desert it for the gentle gradients of the converted railways.
The paving over of the beautifully engineered nationwide system of routes which are at present monopolized by the railways, would result in traffic gravitating onto the permanentways without any need for compulsion and negative reactionary policies by the politicians.
I only wish that Mr. Walker and other members of the Opposition would show some imagination and foresight during the Parliamentary debates on transport by advocating a fair trial for large-scale railway conversion. This could so easily be done by converting the Great Central and other duplicated main and branch lines into motor roads.
A. I. WATKINSON Harrogate, Yorks.