'Make rail travel as cheap as domestic flights and I’m sure you’d have a chance' - Your views online

East Lothian MP Kenny MacAskill is calling for direct train services from Edinburgh to the continent as originally promised when Eurostar was launched more than 25 years ago. Readers were divided over the plan...

Travellers wishing to catch the Eurostar in the UK must get to London first

J Stephen Mcnair: They need to sort out leaves on track, melting rails when it’s too hot, not enough staff,t rain broken down earlier – these are just some of the reasons trains don’t run. It’s a big issue that you can’t rely on trains .

Mike Inglis: Leaves on the line are not a joke – they can cause low adhesion to the track for a trains wheels. Even at a crawling speed a train can take over a mile to stop when it slides on them. Just look at the Salisbury accident as that is looking like what happened.

Irene Mcintosh: It would be wonderful if you could take a train from Scotland straight to the continent, but it has to be affordable to stop people flying.

Peter McCarter: Make rail travel as cheap as domestic flights and I’m sure you’d have a chance! I priced to fly from Birmingham to Edinburgh a few months ago, it was some things like £70, to fly from Birmingham to Faro, then Faro to Edinburgh was something like £13! I’m sure the train at the time was double the direct flight cost. Everything they want us to do – for exampe use electric cars, take the train etc – all seems to cost a hell of a lot more than the things we are doing now, Until they make the cleaner ways more affords people will continue in the exact same way.

John Hewit: There was a plan to run Nighstar sleepers from the UK to Europe. They even built the trains. Then they pulled the plug on the whole thing and sold them off cheap at a considerable loss. They have absolutely no vision, aspiration or joined up thinking when it comes to transport.

Paul Kierley: Railway. For those that want to spend four times as much to travel ten times slower.

Andy Hardie: We have LNER direct to London then Eurostar is right next to the station so not sure what the need really is. I did this travelling to Belgium a couple of years back.It’s a good way to travel, especially when you’re in first class LNER and business class Eurostar. All in the return cost around £350.

Atholl Cunningham: The major problem is time. If you are away on holiday you check in online, go though security and on a plane and away you go so in theory you could be in Paris in two hours and it's a lot cheaper. They need to look at the cost of train travel to make it more appealing.

Scott Nowttodowiu: There is a long way to go, before it would be cost-effective. Can't see this happening.

Michael Clark: We should be looking to bypass England altogether and have direct ferries from Scotland to Europe. They could try the roll on-roll of ferries which can cover commercial lorries, cars and foot passengers. With a bit careful management and some sort of deal with the EU it would work.

Anna Mosspaul: It all comes down in the end whether the hauliers find it cost-effective to send freight via a direct ferry link to Europe, or send it south by road or rail to a shorter crossing to Europe. The last service from Rosyth failed because they couldn't make a profit, and it was under-used. There is nothing stopping it being tried again, but would there be enough customers, both private and commercial. to make it profitable for the ferry company?

James Laidlaw: This another one of these things that everyone wants, then no-one will use.

Henry Campbell Gillan: It’s a great idea but I doubt the Channel Tunnel will have the capacity to deal with this and those other British cities wanting the same.

Evelyn Orr: It would just be nice to get a regular train to East Lothian, rather than waiting for an hour.

Chris Bridgman: I can just imagine it now – “Your 1806 Glasgow Central service to Italy is a rail replacement bus service.”

Glyn Eadie: From recent experience train travel is mega-expensive for the service that you are getting and certainly isn't cheaper and quicker than travelling a similar distance by plane. I would expect the Orient Express luxury class for most train travel we have investigated recently.

Mike Somerville: Edinburgh can’t get five miles of tram tracks right so how would we manage this. It would end up billions over budget.

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