SIR – You report (Worcester News, February 26) that government funding is unlikely to be forthcoming for a new Parkway station because County Hall has failed to submit detailed proposals to Network Rail which is managing the fund.

Peter Blake, head of integrated transport, may well believe the Worcestershire Parkway has a strong business case but if he is unable to turn these sentiments into action there is little hope of getting funding.

Worcester News readers will have to make their own judgement on the competence of County Hall to deliver any worthwhile transport project but as a Parkway has been mooted for the last 20 years, they must have had time to consider every minute detail and one can only assume they have been sleeping on the job.

Perhaps they could now turn their attention to achieving an improvement to the existing rail services which may well yield similar benefits at only a fraction of the cost.

Most existing direct services from Worcester to Birmingham New Street via Bromsgrove travel the 26.8 mile route in 47 minutes and allowing for stops at Droitwich, Bromsgrove and University achieve an average journey speed of only 30-35mph.

The rolling stock, track and signalling of a 21st-century railway should be capable of achieving greater speeds than this.

Improvements to the existing track and signalling allowing trains to travel at 90mph would reduce the journey time from Worcester to Birmingham to 20 to25 minutes and benefit a wider passenger catchment.

ROBERT HARTWRIGHT

Worcester