29 JUNE 2002, Page 33

Dearth of engineers

From Mr Graham Hay Sir: PetroneIla Wyatt (Singular life, 15 June) is to be congratulated. Alone among media commentators she has hit upon the root cause of Railtrack's problems: a lack of 'proper engineers'.

The SNCF recruits more than 250 graduate engineers every year — admittedly for both track and trains — but compare that with RaiItrack which in the very many months since the Hatfield crash has not been able to put up one engineer to explain the hitherto unknown phenomenon of 'gauge corner cracking' and why it was considered acceptable to run fully laden trains at full speed over defective rails.

R.E.G. Hay

Montgeron, France