Barry Gibson column: Back on the rails at Slaithwaite Station

Jul 8 2009 by Our Correspondent, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THERE have been two pieces of good news since last week’s column about the state of the railways.

You may recall that I complained about the excrement - hopefully dog rather than human - which had been left to fester in the platform shelter at Slaithwaite Station.

Well, you’ll be glad to know that the mess has finally been cleaned up.

I wouldn’t for a second put this down to my column, I’m just relieved that the people who use Slawit Station have been granted the tiniest amount of respect by the people who run it.

The second piece of good news is that one of the companies that "runs" trains in this country has lost a franchise.

Last Wednesday the Government took the East Coast mainline - which links Leeds to London - off National Express and put it back into public ownership.

It turns out that it is possible for a train company to be so bad that the Government will step in.

Ministers are saying that this nationalisation will be temporary and that some other company will get their mitts on the trains next year. But still, let’s hope that a psychological hurdle has been crossed on the way to full nationalisation.

Also in last week’s piece, I made a passing reference to the newly-formed Friends of Slaithwaite Station.

However, I didn’t include any more details about this group, which is trying to improve the run-down station. I’m happy to rectify this now.

Anyone who’s interested in becoming a Friend of Slaithwaite Station can email Nikki Millins at sprp.community@yahoo.co.uk