SIR - So now we know. £3bn is to be spent on the direct faster rail connection between Yorkshire and Lancashire. Even this proposal insults Northern commuters by admitting the electrification involved will cease west of Huddersfield and only restart at Stalybridge. Can anyone imagine such a halfway house scheme would be accepted in London?

As for Bradford, no mention. I predict that if the above scheme proceeds, the slower Calder Valley line from Bradford to Lancashire will firstly be used to handle diversions and then take the slack when line closure periods take place east and west of Huddersfield. Bradford will then eventually be left with the inferior service it has now with no high speed line in sight

Philip Crowther, Beckfield Road, Bingley