March 1, 2001 12:04: Re: The Local Railway Debate

OUR apparent indifference to the pollution that increasing road transport can only exacerbate is a very worrying phenomenon: Most people it appears, seem to be blind to the anarchic propensities for environmental catastrophe.

Surely greater use of the railways will at least slow down this madness and moderate, to some extent, this self-destruct obsession with personal and commodity transportation.

The old Great Central line that runs through High Wycombe was there long before much of the development that is now found alongside its lines.

This well-established line is but a shadow of its former self. It deserves to be well used for the benefit of all.

For those who dislike such possibilities surely the best thing to do is to find a quieter environment.

I lived for many years close to a tin plate works where production proceeded 24 hours a day. Later I resided near the now defunct busy sidings where Do It All and Comet now stand.

Our residence was also on the route of the late returning Thames Valley buses to the garage in Desborough Road: Both noisy, busy environments were seen as the background to our daily lives and as such were disregarded.

We all possess such a useful trait.

On the other hand, our ability to disregard reality when it feeds on short-sighted self interest will eventually bring its "rewards". Some of which are being "enjoyed" by others both in this country and certainly worldwide.

In Flackwell Heath, once a quiet backwater, we now have the incessant hiss thousands of speeding vehicles on the M40.

Noise pollution comes in many guises and trains, I would aver, are way down the pecking order of noise nuisance.

Give me trains, any day, to the noise (and smell) of road vehicles or again the social and safety implications of the very intrusive mobile telephone.

W D Mansbridge, Fennels Farm Road, Flackwell Heath