I read with interest an article in Thursday's Gleaner in which Minister Mike Henry promised to have the trains running again by next year. I remember working with a potential foreign investor on a due diligence study to reintroduce rail transport some 14 years ago.

The investment partners - major railway operators from two industrialised countries - were then convinced that the commuter traffic between Kingston, May Pen and Linstead alone (even without the lucrative cargo trade) would be enough to make the system viable. They were prepared to restore the service within three months.

More power

Several potential investors have left the island in frustration since, having failed to defeat the lobby of vested interests opposed to the re-introduction of rail service, that seem to wield even more power than successive ministers of transport.

It has also been included in the South Coast Development Plan, where it was seen as a vital link with the proposed Vernamfield aerodrome. If Minister Henry can pull off this feat he deserves to be named your Man of the Year and given the OJ. But I am not holding my breath that anything will come of it soon.

I am, etc.,

A. CYNIC

Kingston 20