Network Rail's announcement that it expects rolling contact fatigue to worsen in the next decade is probably the basis for another dip into the public purse.
A ten per cent increase in weight should have had no more impact on the life of the rails than has been experienced in years gone by.
I am referring to the years when steam locomotives were the prime movers. The main line locomotives in the later stages of steam traction weighed up to 120 tons and could achieve 100mph with trains of 12 or even 15 carriages.
The track in those days was maintained by teams of dedicated men and no section of the main running lines was left un-inspected for more than a day. In my nine years' service with Southern and British Rail I recall a cracked or broken rail only once on the London to Brighton line.
It seems such intensive maintenance is no longer required but this, and the rules and regulations, is how the railways were kept safe.
-D Phillips, Portslade
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