Cynical view

Published: 2:39 PM January 10, 2008

Updated: 12:55 AM February 23, 2021

SIR, — In my role as a correspondent for Radio Verulam, a community broadcaster based in St Albans, on December 9 I travelled on the first train from Bedford to stop at St Pancras International. First Capital Connect kindly allowed me to interview the dri

SIR, - In my role as a correspondent for Radio Verulam, a community broadcaster based in St Albans, on December 9 I travelled on the first train from Bedford to stop at St Pancras International. First Capital Connect kindly allowed me to interview the driver before we set off.

In my broadcast piece I included our conversation and those I had with fellow passengers on our journey to London, as well as my reactions to the new station and the underground links to it.

I mentioned the long walk between the new station and the underground lines. I also wondered why the designers had not included travelators as they would at an airport such as link some of the terminals at Heathrow. After all the station does have the word "international" in its title and so a goodly number of passengers might reasonably be expected to be carrying heavy luggage.

However it did occur to me that it would make financial sense to force thousand of travellers to walk the whole length of the rail station passing the shops on the way. Oh! I have become cynical in my old age.

In order to get to the underground I now either aim for Farringdon or Blackfriars or take a stopping train to Kentish Town and join the Northern line there.

DAVID PEARSON,