SIR – I was particularly interested in your editorial (December 17) about rail travel. If we are seriously going to cut our carbon usage in this country, then more people – if they have to travel at all – will have to do it by train and not by car or plane.

Three friends and I went by train this summer to Slovenia for a holiday, and the longer journey became a proper part of the holiday itself. No worries about road accidents and no huge carbon footprint!

We don’t need more airport runways, nor more motorways. We need more carriages and more railway lines!

David Somerville, Lilycroft Road, Bradford