Letter: Off the rails

Sir: It is not true that the sale of Railtrack cannot be prevented (leading article, 20 March). For it to be sold there will have to be buyers, and who will come forward if they risk forfeiting their shares at the issue price in exchange for long-term low-interest bonds?

It is not just a question of losing a bit more of the family silver, for this privatisation would destroy all possibility of a coherent transport policy. Trains on privately owned rails will never compete with cars on publicly funded roads.

P J Stewart

Oxford