Week to Sunday 3rd
August 2003
News from the Financial Times
was:
- 28th July David
Turner reports “Transport
delays cost City £130m
a year”. Survey for
the City by Oxford Economic
Forecasting calculated the
business cost by multiplying
the number of journeys by
the average wage of £32.25.
The cost of leisure for commuting
was set to £5.54. The
combination provided nearly
£1 million per for the
City or £750 per year
per worker.
- 29th No news of
note
- 30th July Kevin
Reports “MPs call for
airline pollution tax”
mainly because of the alleged
global warming effects. Attacked
by the BAA and UK airports
group as “misguided”
and contrary to advice from
the Commons Transport Select
committee- calling for additional
airport capacity at the earliest
opportunity.
- 31st Robert Wright
reports “Eurostar
train breaks British rail
speed record” train
achieved 208 mph (334.7kph).
Journey time to Paris reduced
by 20 minutes when the first
1.9 billion section is opened,
in September and by a further
15 minutes when the second
£3.3 billion section
is opened in 2007, cutting
the London to Paris time to
2hrs 15mins. In contrast the
French side opened its in
1994 enabling the maximum
speed of 186 mph to be achieved
there when the Tunnel opened.
Transport Watch comments –
quoting from last weeks new
item 3, the Tunnel plus the
associated the infrastructure
cost more than £25 billion.
The company share price values
the company at £1.2
billion. THE MORAL –
NEVER INVEST IN FIXED TRACK
SYSTEMS WITHOUT GOVERNMENT
GUARANTEES HOWEVER GLAMOROUS
THE PROJECT
- 1st Robert Wright
reports “Rail chief
defends plan to scale back
work on rural lines”
– SRA claiming reduced
maintenance on cross country
routes will save £600m
per year. Transport Watch comments
that track maintenance for
rail is probably at least
10 times as expensive per
equivalent vehicle-km as is
road maintenance, see Facts
Sheet 8
Show
All Articles for: News |
