The subject of the meeting was Rail Infrastructure, so Chris flagged up what has been achieved recently, including the Ipswich chord and Beccles loop (as a result of 20 years of campaigning by Railfuture) and the big investment into the rail link to the London Gateway port. For the future, he spoke of the need to make better use of the approaches to Liverpool Street with the diversion of metro services to Crossrail, the importance of the new station at Beaulieu Park and the chronic overcrowding problems already occurring because of the shortage of diesel units for local lines, linked to the lack of plans to build any new ones.

Tim Price, the chairman of Essex Institute of Directors, is keen to foster links with Railfuture, which could bring the crucial element of business support which our campaigns need.