Okhil Chandra Sen
wrote this letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway office in 1909. This letter is
credited to have led to the introduction of toilets in trains ! Letter
writing is dead in the modern era of Whats App and other social media. Still this letter of a 6 year old girl to
rail bosses asking them stop train delays so she can see her commuter father
before bedtime is worth a read. Mail
Online reports that the girl 6 who wrote the letter misses her father at
bedtime and adding further to the rail
chiefs that because of their fares he
cannot take her to Disneyland.
Her father commutes
between Uckfield, East Sussex, and London Bridge. The hand-written
letter has been posted on a Facebook page called 'Neil Porter
Lettering.' The letter was written after his problems on the line between Uckfield
in East Sussex and London Bridge. Mr Porter spends just over £4,000 a year
commuting to Shoreditch, East London, where he works as a graphic
designer. Southern Railway services has been in a state
of chaos for two weeks since a new timetable came in with trains regularly
delayed, suspended or cancelled. According to official Network Rail figures
none of Southern's 7.29am commuter service between Brighton and London Victoria
trains reached the capital at the scheduled time of 8.35am last year. This came
as statistics showed more than a third of all trains, across all networks,
failed to arrive on time last year. People commenting on Ella's letter have
suggested sending it to Southern rail bosses. Others expressed their sadness
for little Ella.
A spokesman for
Southern Railway said: 'We are sorry
that Mr Porter has been delayed on his way home and that his daughter misses
him. Trains to Victoria and London
Bridge travel over the most congested part of the whole of Britain's railway
network and we are constantly pushing against the boundaries of what is
physically possible on the infrastructure to provide as much capacity as
possible to and from London.
There is another
interesting news – that of a rich Britain man
building a Railway so that he can show off his £10million country house and
grounds to friends. It is
reported that a man has now applied to
build a railway around his Staffordshire garden. The three-mile train track which will not be
open to public, will snake through his
28-acre grounds.
Billionaire John
Caudwell founded mobile giant Phones4u as part of a business empire which was
sold for nearly £1.5billion in 2006. The 62-year-old businessman has now been
granted planning permission to build a narrow gauge railway around his 50-room
Broughton Hall home, near Eccleshall, Staffordshire. The railway line will run
through the estate's 28-acre formal gardens and open parkland and will be used
to take the tycoon's family and friends round the expansive grounds. The
railway, which will echo the design of a similar attraction at nearby Weston
Park, will not be open to the public. The three-mile track will run past the
estate's tennis court and indoor swimming pool, through the large gardens and
then round the parkland attached to the property.
Mr Caudwell also is the founder of the Caudwell Children
charity, which provides support, equipment, treatment and therapy for disabled
youngsters.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
20th Jan 2015.
