Please don't copy out the letter below verbatim. People in authority or positions of influence discount form letters almost entirely. Instead, please just use this letter as a source of ideas, and write your own letter without sight of it.

Dear ______

I am writing in connection with Network Rail's proposed UK-wide communications network, which consists of 2,022 33-metre masts (more than twice the height of a normal cellular mast), one every 7-8 kilometres of track. An unknown number of them are planned for our constituency, but Network Rail won't reveal the locations (they don't need planning permission, it seems).

Network Rail claim that they are obliged to introduce this network by a European Union law on interoperability (Directive 96/48).

Knowing how prone UK organizations are to blame unpopular developments on the EU, we suspect that Network Rail may be bending the truth to suit their own purposes. If so, the European Union should take steps to publicly dissociate itself from the masts, otherwise it will incur a great deal of unwarranted odium in the coming years.

Apparently, the UK will be the first country to implement Level 2 ERTMS throughout their rail network. Italy plans to use Level 2 ERTMS on new High Speed Lines only, and neither France nor Germany have firm dates for implementing it at all. Only Austria and Bulgaria are said to have implemented Level 1 ERTMS, a simpler version that does not require masts.

Directive 96/48 also permits countries to apply for exemption (or "derogation") on various grounds, including cost (ERTMS is budgeted to cost £3.6 to £6 billion). However, the only section of rail for which the UK has sought derogation is the Channel Tunnel Rail Link - the only section of the UK rail network that interoperates with European railways.

Please can you ask the EU to confirm that the UK is not obliged to implement Level 2 ERTMS immediately, and could apply for indefinite derogation?

Can you also please ask Network Rail to provide you (and us too, if possible) with a complete list of projected GSM-R mast locations within your constituency? Mr John Armitt, Chief Executive of Network Rail, supplied such a list to Dr Caroline Jackson, MEP for the south-west.

Yours etc

Your name

Your address (within the constituency)