I WAS sorry that Mr Thake thought, in his most recent letter, I was asking him to prove a negative. As my learned friends might say - let me re-phrase the question. Perhaps he could inquire of his German contact the answers to the following:

Prior to the implementation of directive 91/440, what mechanism existed in Germany for a private company to set up services in competition with the state-run railway company (DB), and how many such operations were set up?

Since 91/440 has come into force, how many private companies or regional organisations have been able to take over formerly DB-run or abandoned services, or set up new ones?

As for my "chapter' and verse", I refer him to the magazine Today's Railways, produced by a respected team of railway journalists from across Europe. In the most recent issue, he will find further evidence of competition being generated, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

At least the state monoliths are being subjected to competition which, until 91/440, they resisted vigorously.

Extra bureaucracy may have been needed, but at least something positive has resulted - except in Britain, where inept implementation has given us the chaos of today.

A REECE, Worcester.