Railroad to nowhere

摘要

The pound stores, factory seconds shops, bookies and boarded-up windows around Stoke-on-Trent railway station do not bespeak a thriving city. A meagre tourist trade to the home of England's historic pottery industry has done little to lift its limp, post-industrial economy. And the Midlands city is expecting another blow: two direct trains an hour currently run between London and Stoke-on-Trent, but a planned new high-speed rail line is likely to bypass it. In the future the city might have fewer-and potentially slower-services to the capital.