A chara, – Louis O’Flaherty is right to be dubious about the delivery date of the highly publicised promise to improve the 180 km Dublin to Belfast train connection (Letters, April 11th). We can also be modest about what is being improved. The comfort and the frequency perhaps, but not the journey time. The current best of two hours and five minutes remains unchanged since the 1960s. The much-heralded 2029 improvement will be one hour and 55 minutes, but this is only a modest gain of 10 minutes after 60 years. Here in France, a similar 180km distance in a TGV takes a mere 40 minutes, but enough time to have your coffee, your croissant, and read a few pages of The Irish Times.
We can do with some French savoir-faire to put the “fast” back into Belfast. – Is mise,
CIARÁN Mac GUILL,
Clichy,
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France.