FLOODING of Winchburgh tunnel on the Edinburgh/Glasgow main line has been a serious problem for the permanent way workers for many years ("Flood hell leaves parts of country cut off for days", The Herald, August 8).

This part of the busiest commuter corridor in the central belt was closed for quite some time to allow extensive engineering work in the hope of solving the Niddry Burn problem.

Network Rail did propose a Dalmeny curve off the existing Winchburgh Junction/ Dalmeny line to allow some ex-Queen Street trains to access the new Edinburgh Gateway station while at the same time offering an alternative all-weather route to the capital.

Prior to electrification it was possible to operate a half-hourly diesel service via Dalmeny. This was satisfactory used on many occasions.

The withdrawal of the Dalmeny curve project on instruction from Transport Scotland has had a rather disastrous effect.

Colin C Maclean, Edinburgh EH4.

THE outpouring of comments regarding the aftermath of the rainfalls of recent days on the railway and particularly its infrastructure ("Flood chaos spares fears over a 'lack of resilience' on railways as planet warms", The Herald, August 8) has, by and large, occurred countless times very often at the same locale over decades.

There is nothing new in extremes of weather (our Scottish variety) leading to the assertion; the cause being, currently, due to global warming. I will leave this for others to argue over.

There are numerous accounts and written detail in the public record of what took place either during construction of lines of route and after completion of same such occurrences becoming almost the norm, be it floods, gales or winter blizzards. I recall in the same period of year as at present on August 12/13, 1948, bringing washouts and consequential severe damage to rail routes in the Scottish Borders. In themselves the West Highland line and Highland main line, due mainly to their geophysical situation, are particularly prone to the elements.

Winchburgh tunnel flooding has been an ongoing problem and led to proposals around the 1970s that it should be closed and the line of route concerned diverted via a chord at Dalmeny.

All in all, problems on the infrastructure of the entire rail network will undoubtedly increase ,bearing in mind that much averages around 160 years of age.

There will be much to do in all aspects to maintain its resilience as enumerated by the Network Rail director.

John Macnab, Falkirk.