SIR - I think the residents of Earby need have no fear of freight trains running through the village anytime soon (Residents concerned over railway plans, Craven Herald June 20).
These trains do currently run Liverpool to Drax power station via another route but why they would divert to the longer route via Colne and Skipton is unclear.
SELRAP have got the Managing Director of Drax to support their cause but the timescales involved mean that these trains will have ceased to run before the Skipton-Colne link could ever be realised.
At present, woodchip is shipped from America across the Atlantic, then loaded on train, then taken to Drax to burn in the power station.
It's scarcely believable that this will continue as we move towards more renewable sources of energy.
How long will the Drax power station survive?
The other SELRAP proposal of fast trains from Skipton to Manchester is also unrealisable due to the geography of the rail network in East Lancashire.
It is a shame, but this project is just unrealistically expensive, the available investment would be better spent elsewhere, say, on a new station at Cross Hills on the existing line between Cononley and Steeton.
John Heaton
Ickornshaw
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