Main news from the Financial
Times was:
- 30th June Mark Odell
reports Rail Chiefs saying
is £58 bn needed to
run the system. Transport Watch
comments – its difficult
to square the numbers –
Moderisation was at one time
said to require £73bn,
the East Coast High Speed
line is to cost £36
bn over perhaps 40 years.
There are reports that the
railways need £9 bn
per year. Inquires of the
SRA or the Office of the Rail
Regulator are unrewarding.
- 1st July Rebecca
Beam reports “Rail
outlook offers little comfort
to passengers” –
one in 10 trains late and
2000 staff to be cut coupled
with Network Rail’s
intention, in liaison with
the SRA and the Regulator,
to “come up with pragmatic
solutions to the funding crisis”.
Leader – Network Fail
arguing for cuts except for
the commuter services.Transport Watch
comments – let us hope
the redundant rail routes
are bought by the Government
so that it may convert the
routes to roads – avoiding
the loss of this priceless
transport land and encouraging
development in the areas served.
- July 2nd Rebecca
Bream reports the
CBI’s concern that poor
transport is deterring inward
investors.
- 5th July Cathy Newman
reports the proposed widening
of the M25 to an 8-lane highway
plus U-turn by the Government
in favour of road building
as opposed to public transport.
- Dan Roberts
Reports former chief executive
of Railtrack, Gerald Corbett,
may be prosecuted for the
Hatfield Rail crash. Transport Watch
comments – whereas it
is difficult to see any justice
in such a prosecution, some
may believe a prosecution
of rail management for misrepresentation
of the financial and engineering
facts down the decades may
be appropriate.
Chris Tighe
reports a train arrives in
Wensleydale after 49 years.
- Bertrand Benoit
reports the plan
for 79 km of (German) Maglev
in Westphalia has been scraped
casting a pall over the hope
for a Maglev track in China.
Transport Watch comments: a Maglef
system must surely be many
times as expensive as steel
wheel on steel rail, itself
4 times as expensive as express
coaches. If speed is the issue
then how does Maglev compare
with air for cost, land take
and fuel consumption?
6th July: Sunday times:
David Smith, Dipesh Gadher
and Mark Ludlow Railways:
time for the AXE (Some parts
of the network are doing the
job that a small bus could
do perfectly adequately and
a lot cheaper) – a major
article suggesting the facts
are at last beginning to be
understood.
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