...to ground short flights.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009 ... ail-adonis
Government unveils high-speed rail plan
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adam2
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It is all a grand idea in theory, but we need is to actually build one or more high speed rail lines.
For how many decades has this been disscussed ?
How many assesments, studies etc have been performed ?
Whenever there appears to be any risk of something actually happening, the government announce more studies, preferably into something exotic, expensive and untried such as Maglev, rather than actually building a conventional high speed railway line as other nations are doing.
IMHO any new lines should use conventional railway technology, in order that the new trains can run over existing tracks, as well as on new high speed routes.
Whilst faster is better, within reason, greater speed requires more energy, and I therefore doubt the need for more than 200 or at the most 250 MPH.
I cant imagine much progress without a change in the law, nimbies hate new or upgraded railways even more than wind turbines !
Imagine a nimbyfest not just for a single turbine, but for every mile of a route hundreds of miles long!
For how many decades has this been disscussed ?
How many assesments, studies etc have been performed ?
Whenever there appears to be any risk of something actually happening, the government announce more studies, preferably into something exotic, expensive and untried such as Maglev, rather than actually building a conventional high speed railway line as other nations are doing.
IMHO any new lines should use conventional railway technology, in order that the new trains can run over existing tracks, as well as on new high speed routes.
Whilst faster is better, within reason, greater speed requires more energy, and I therefore doubt the need for more than 200 or at the most 250 MPH.
I cant imagine much progress without a change in the law, nimbies hate new or upgraded railways even more than wind turbines !
Imagine a nimbyfest not just for a single turbine, but for every mile of a route hundreds of miles long!
"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"
I think there is close to zero chance of a NEW hi-speed rail system being build. The way forward, if we are to increase train speeds, is to evolve the current system. Upgrade tracks, straighten out some of the more serious bends etc...
The existing mainline routes are the best for any new and faster trains. If new track is to be built, it should be smaller, local projects. City light rail, commuter routes linking surrounding towns and villages to the cities. Leave the mainline, intercity routes clear for hi-speed services.
The existing mainline routes are the best for any new and faster trains. If new track is to be built, it should be smaller, local projects. City light rail, commuter routes linking surrounding towns and villages to the cities. Leave the mainline, intercity routes clear for hi-speed services.
http://dizzythinks.net/2009/08/trains-a ... ll-as.html
"Let's take an example though. I can do, door to door, to Andalusia in 5.5 hours for £50 return (I could do it quicker if I didn't check in a bag and paid £3 for the priority security route at Luton). There is no way that a train can get me there that cheap or that fast, even if it was doing a constant 250mph and the train picked me up from my door and dropped me off outside my destination."
Until the government stops trying to run rail services as a corporatist monopoly, rail isnt replacing anything.
In other news, Manchesters Metrolink is again closed for a month, public transport, great as long as you dont need to get to work in August.
"Let's take an example though. I can do, door to door, to Andalusia in 5.5 hours for £50 return (I could do it quicker if I didn't check in a bag and paid £3 for the priority security route at Luton). There is no way that a train can get me there that cheap or that fast, even if it was doing a constant 250mph and the train picked me up from my door and dropped me off outside my destination."
Until the government stops trying to run rail services as a corporatist monopoly, rail isnt replacing anything.
In other news, Manchesters Metrolink is again closed for a month, public transport, great as long as you dont need to get to work in August.
I'm a realist, not a hippie