RALPH Frost makes some good points regarding the Fawley railway line, much of which I agree with.

I too would love to see it reopen to passengers, but I think his glasses are rose coloured as it is difficult to see how it would pay.

Even in its heyday (if there ever was one) the passenger service rarely paid and that was before mass car use.

The population has since exploded but how many of them would actually use the train?

Many ferry users, maybe some bus users (though the train will be dearer), but enough? And will enough drivers convert to rail. I doubt it.

Even if they did it will still cost more than the ferry to support and subsidise, plus the additional cost of upgrading signalling and numerous level crossings.

Waterside has a population of around 40,000, but only Hythe and Marchwood have anything like decent potential.

Those stations could be reinstated fairly easily, but Fawley station is remote, in poor condition and in any case cannot be accessed, it now being within the refinery complex.

To compare with Chandlers Ford or the new Borders line is misleading. I cannot find a single example of a reinstated line to directly compare it to.

Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh and Romsey total 148,000 people, but the line can also draw on Salisbury and Fareham, etc.

As a through route, and a useful diversionary route to avoid Southampton, the line is viable without Chandlers Ford itself.

The 30 mile Borders line to Tweedbank serves very low populace, which is why it was built, to connect poorly served remote communities and to regenerate the area.

It is massively funded by the Scottish government.

Were it to continue to Carlisle it would give Edinburgh another route to London and provide Anglo-Scottish freight an alternative to the congested West Coast Main Line.

The route has indeed exceeded expectations so far, but much of that is tourism based.

The Fawley line has little tourist potential.

It goes nowhere interesting (sorry Watersiders) and has no scenery, running almost entirely through trees.

Good luck Ralph and the other campaigners, but it is not the no brainer you suggest.

Phil Woodward

Millbrook