In response to David Jefferies reply (Letters, August 19) to my letter bemoaning the poor state of the trains running the Brighton to London Bridge service (The Argus, August 17).

I do not claim to be a railway enthusiast like Mr Jefferies, but I am an employer in Brighton with interests that require constant travel between Brighton, London and the rest of the country.

It is easy for the likes of Mr Jefferies to be an armchair commentator but the point I was making is that the poor state of the trains on this route are having a negative economic impact on Brighton. I spent Monday evening of this week waiting for more than an hour on the platform of London Bridge station after the first First Capital Connect train I was waiting for was cancelled due to a technical fault two minutes before its scheduled arrival. I then waited for two trains to pass that were so full, due to the prior cancellation, that the conditions were inhuman.

Again on Friday, I left Brighton on the 2.19pm Southern Service to London Victoria which was scheduled to arrive at 3.12pm.

Southern operate an excellent service but just before East Croydon, the train was diverted, as were all trains, on to the slow tracks because a First Capital Connect train was broken down at the platform of East Croydon station.

It was still still sitting there, surrounded by cordons and engineers as we slowly passed by. The Southern train finally arrived late at 3.45pm and I missed my meeting.

As someone who pays many thousands of pounds each year to use the London Bridge route, as do many local people, I find it rather insulting. My Jefferies says that the issue is the lack of capacity and that objecting is like “complaining about your car as you drive it to the scrapyard”.

The problem is that I can choose to scrap my car when it is past its sell-by date, but I have no choice but to swallow the pitter pill of travelling the substandard and unreliable trains that operate this route. Mr Jefferies’ romantic notion of the heyday of rail travel is long gone. Rail is a major artery for the kind of enterprising activities that create jobs and bring wealth in to Brighton and Hove.

The trains that we have to London Bridge are simply not fit for purpose and there is no denying that fact.

The limited rail capacity merely amplifies it.

Mike Macfarlane
Marine Parade, Brighton