Chris Rackley speculates on the idea of a railway that could make the journey between London and Brighton in only ten minutes (Letters, April 8).

Were such a thing to ever come about, one effect would be that little terrace houses here would be changing hands for millions of pounds.

For the foreseeable future, however, the journey will be taking just under an hour, as it has since 1933, and as we are now promised extra carriages, the trip should be more comfortable.

Obviously the new trains will have to be fully compatible with the recently built Electrostars but it would be good if the opportunity could be taken for a redesign, not of the mechanical and electrical systems, which have now settled down as staff have become familiar with them, but of the part of the train "above the floor".

The carriages are narrower than they need to be, especially at floor level and above the window, resulting in cramped seating, narrow gangways and luggage racks so small they are barely wide enough to put a folded overcoat on.

More generally - the space is not used particularly well - the Electrostars have fewer seats than the slam-door stock they replaced.

There are also issues with the doors, including the awkward halfstep at the entrance - a feature which has been addressed in the later trains of the same type.

There is, too, the matter of the general layout of the vehicles. New carriages for South West Trains, running on similar services, have their entrances at the ends of the vehicles instead of part-way along, with a second set of doors inside the train between the entrance doors and the areas where people sit.

This keeps the train warmer in the winter and cuts down on work done by the air conditioning system in the summer.

It also makes for a more efficient use of space.

  • Henry Law, Queen's Gardens, Brighton