Rowan Dore's interview with Richard Bowker, chief executive of the Strategic Rail Authority (The Argus, April 2), contained comment on a walkout by rail guards on safety grounds as a pointless dispute.

That depends on whether one is a passenger or a cost-cutting train operator.

The new sliding-door trains coming into service across southern England are designed to maximise seating by not providing separate guard compartments for secure stowage of bulky luggage, prams, scooters and bicycles.

Train guards will become as redundant as clippies on driver-only-operated buses.

Millions of passengers in the UK use bicycles. European touring cyclists coming off ferries will increasingly have train travel problems.

Eventually, cyclists could become banned on trains as passenger disputes and injuries increase as more cyclists try to put their cycles into confined passenger spaces while sliding-door vestibules need to be kept clear at all times in case of an emergency.

I hope MPs will step up their interest in an increasingly serious situation on our railways.

-John Stanaway, member of Southern England Region Railfuture, Lorna Road, Hove