EVERYONE should support The Northern Echo’s Right Lines campaign – MPs, MEPs, councils, business, trades unions (Echo, Sept 1) about improving the region’s railways.

More and more people are travelling by train, saving money, reducing traffic congestion and carbon emissions, and aiding personal heath and fitness. One reason I moved to Darlington after my wife died was to be within walking distance of a mainline station.

Investment in rail on half the scale of that now prevailing in the South East would transform our regional economy and enhance the lives of its citizens.

Chris Foote-Wood, Prospective Parliamentary Lib Dem candidate for Richmond, Darlington.