Joined-up train plans needed

Dec 4 2006

YOUR paper is right to raise awareness of the plan to replace the current Metropolitan line trains ('Save our Seats').

As somebody who has accompanied a wheelchair user on the Underground, I understand the inhospitable situations that such passengers regularly encounter and wish to defend the provision of equal access and space for them.

However, I believe that the whole-sale replacement of the trains on this line has not been properly justified on a number of grounds.

Firstly, the proposed replacement trains offer less seating than the original class A carriages (built in Sheffield in 1960 and 1962). Further overcrowding will only impact negatively on all passengers, including the disadvantaged group being targeted for special provision.

Secondly, it seems the alternative option of adapting the pre-existing carriages to accommodate wheelchair passengers has not been properly considered. That would be both cheaper and more environmentally responsible. Indeed, our society's preparedness to waste valuable resources and assume obsolescence will have to change if we are to combat climate change.

Instead we witness a complete lack of joined-up thinking: the current trains were refurbished in 1994-1997 and their distinctive seat covers (all 20,000 of them) renewed in 2004. Has it now become scandalously profitable to dispose of these trains?

Third, the character of the original carriages is much appreciated by cur-rent passengers (ask anybody). Aesthetics and heritage considerations must not be dismissed - they help to design out crime by contributing to our sense of security and ownership of the public space.

Instead the seating for the replacement carriages would have us trade in a supportive mattress for a spindly frame. Moreover, what research has been done on the contribution of a lengthy train corridor to vandalism?

Lastly, and to anticipate one rejoinder, it has been said that the frequency and actual speed of trains will be increased to make up for the reduced seating. I remain unconvinced that infrastructure will be able to deliver this. What passengers (sorry, customers) want more than anything is reliability.

Take the multi-million pound refurbishment of Wembley Park Station, which still provides us with inaccurate information about the arrival and destination of Metropolitan trains. We are regularly faced with the infuriating (and absurd) situation of a platform indicator that reliably qualifies its real-time data with, 'The information on this dot matrix may be incorrect'. D'oh!

SHAHRAR ALI, Brent and Harrow Green Party, PO Box 54785, London, NW9 1FL