Sir, It is impossible to disagree with your correspondent who suggests that Britain is the sick man of Europe in railway terms (July 9). No doubt Britain has struggled to find the political will to make the massive investment necessary to come close to the system in, say, France.
Since moving to Germany a couple of years ago, however, I have noticed that not all improvements need cost billions. What really irritates me on my return trips home to the UK is the atrocious ticketing system. Here, I can buy a ticket online that I can print. It has a scrambled bar code that can be read by the ticket inspector’s machine. It is surely time that Britain brings this simple upgrade into being. Ryanair has recently introduced a similar system, which will save it a fortune in turnaround time and reduced check-in staff.
ROB JACQUES, Freiburg, Germany
Sir, David Jackson’s letter in praise of Chiltern Railways (July 10) is timely. I travel to London Marylebone from my home in Solihull in preference to the quicker but ridiculously expensive Birmingham to Euston route. I book online and they send a bar code by text to my mobile phone so no ticket office queues. Nothing could be more simple. Perhaps other lines could learn something from this.
A. J. CHANDLER, Knowle, Solihull