February 15, 2001 9:53: IT is with concern and disgust that I read the letter of Mr Archer of the BUCKS CRAG ( February 8) with reports of how we should continue the fight against the Central Railway's proposals for increased freight usage of the Chiltern Line.

I hope that I'm not the only one who believes that Mr Archer needs to stop for a reality check and seriously consider what he his fighting against has he looked out of the windows lately?

The entire south-east of the country and Bucks in particular is suffering from severe congestion through all hours of the day. What is the main cause of this? Freight. Has he considered what will happen in the next ten years without any major infrastructure development? I will tell him chaos, increased congestion and more accidents.

Continued economic growth has meant that there is a lot more traffic which our decrepit highway network has to accommodate.We must turn to our railway system to transport freight from source to destination. A truly integrated approach (which is what our government is trying to achieve) will reduce trip-making at all stages of the journey and dramatically reduce the numbers of lorries on our ailing road network (one train equals about 50 lorries).

We should be welcoming with open arms the proposals of Central Railway which seek to improve our railways and improve the quality of life for years to come by reducing traffic levels on our roads.

The railway was there long before Mr Archer moved in with his NIBYesque attitude. Is he and his action group going to scupper the only real chance we have for improving our rail network, reducing freight on the roads and having an impact on not only Bucks road but across the country by just being selfish?

Think of the future of the country think of the children.

Alan Swan

Totteridge Avenue

High Wycombe