I agree with the local representative of Railfuture that the Willingdon chord should be re-opened for a direct route from Brighton to Hastings (Letters, June 8).

There would have been plenty of money to do so and open many other lines if there had not been a panic to replace the slam-door trains, when most were good for another 15 years.

Retaining them would also have meant passengers could have enjoyed trains which had been better thought out and spared the teething troubles of the new trains.

It is a pity that organisations, such as Railfuture failed to argue for sensible priorities and assumed there was a bottomless pot of money.

As it is, we have indifferent and unreliable new trains and closed lines which could have been re-opened.

-Henry Law, Brighton