BRIAN Patton, (The long letter, June 22) hits the nail right on the head with his excellent article on French tramway systems. I cannot add very much to his painstaking observations, save to mention that Strasbourg also has a most enviable tramway system.
My friends, living just outside the city, drove us to Auchan supermarket, on the outskirts, where we were able to access a tram easily, as it arrives in the forecourt every three minutes. For the very reasonable cost of three euros, you can travel into the city, leave the tram, say for shopping purposes, and, provided that you return within the hour, continue your journey on the same ticket. You can do this all day if you like.
READ MORE: Look to French cities to see the success of modern tram systems
So popular has this proved that the network was expanded by some 25 kilometres (approximately the distance from Edinburgh to Dunfermline!) without a whimper or a demur, and no absurd foot-dragging or eye-watering cost increases. This is very largely because it was built and is run publicly, so that private profiteering in what is essentially “transport en commun” is not part of the equation. Much the same can be said, of course, of the superb railway network, the modernisation of which was one of Mitterrand’s “grands projets” and firmly held in public ownership.
We may reflect on the recent “gilets jaunes” demonstrations. This was often inaccurately reported by the British press as mere trouble-making, but meant something very close to the hearts of the French people. They like their public services to be just that, en commun, and not “libéralisé” or “privatisé” They sent a powerful message to Macron.
READ MORE: Letters, June 18
But Brian Patton’s analysis of transport in France is true over many European countries as well. In fact, we are the odd ones out. Spain, for example, lifted its entire rail network and re-laid it according to the narrower, European gauge. More recently, a metro has been put into Malaga (without private funding), and a high-speed line created in a loop, linking the main cities of Andalucia. This has been connected by a new line to Madrid. All to enable the passage of Spain’s version of TGV, the AVE (Alta Velocidad Espanola) a neat acronym, which gives “bird.”
When will we, as suggested by V MacKinlay, begin to start thinking of integration, and, indeed, serious investment in, public transport?
Brian D York
Dumfries
IT is with interest I have been reading the National Conversation in regard to the environmental benefits of trams and trains above all other forms of transport. All my life I have been an advocate of rail, and I have never once driven a car. There is nothing more detrimental to the environment, and perhaps more antithetical to human nature, than the motorcar. As a follower of Sanatana Dharma, it is incumbent upon me to refrain from taking any form of life, and a single car journey results in the death of countless creatures, not to mention the accumulative health and planetary impact of particulates being released into the atmosphere. As someone who regularly cycles up Hope Street and sees the black fumes of death spewing forth from vehicles, it is beyond me how this is allowed to continue.
READ MORE: Alison Johnstone: This is why Scottish ministers are failing to deliver on transport
It has always been a source of sadness to me that Glasgow Corporation dismantled the largest tram network in Europe, and that a corporation which was once so self-efficient that it generated its own electricity is now so ineffectual at providing even the most basic amenities and facilities to the denizens of this dear green place. Looking to the future, however, Glasgow as a city is ideal for the reintroduction of trams. Initially a single line could be laid from Milngavie to Easterhouse through the city centre, with a second line running from the city centre along Great Western Road to Anniesland, and possibly even all the way to Balloch. Once these lines are laid, then the network can be extended all over the city. Whether these trams are electric with overhead lines (the old hooks can still be seen on many buildings) or maglev (my preference), would be something for our city engineers to decide.
With the climate emergency we are facing, I would suggest that the internal combustion engine should be immediately declared illegal; with exemptions for the emergency services etc until there can be a full crossover to greener technologies. This may, to many people, be considered extreme, but we have to revolutionalise our behaviour and our mindset now if there is to be any hope for the future and coming generations. And, of course, we need full independence to be able to act without hindrance from those forces which are inimical to the common good of this fair and honest land of ours.
Solomon Steinbett
Maryhill, Glasgow
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