Tim wrote:
I find it very sad that London's rail links are being allowed to
decline like this.

A good example being the commuter services into Waterloo, which are
pretty much at the limit of their capacity. The move to St Pancras
of the Eurostar terminal is a perfect opportunity to vastly improve
services into Waterloo - in the words of SWT:

"South West Trains... believes that it could eliminate almost all
overcrowding and sharply reduce delays if it was allowed to use the
five Eurostar platforms." (ok, they would say that, but there can be
little doubt that more platforms at Waterloo would be a Good Thing
for rail users)

However the Department of Transport take a different view. Their
responsibility, they argue, is not to improve transport services, but
to raise as much money as possible in the short term by selling off
the railway's assets. From a DoT statement:

"The facilities at Waterloo and North Pole (the Eurostar maintenance
depot, which is also closing) represent significant assets and the
department requires that their future use achieves the best value for
money."

So instead of much needed investment, we get a quick cash-grab, and
rather than providing us with an integrated transport policy the
govt. gets to raise a few hundred million that it can put towards
something really useful, like ID cards for everyone.

And once we get these much-needed offices and shops built on the
railway's land, how are people going to travel to them, anyway?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...557246,00.html

You're reading something that isn't there. Achieving best value for money
does not mean selling them off. It does mean putting them to the most
effective use.