Superficially this blog is for you transport nerds,
Laura you know who I am talking about. But together they illustrate the mess
that the UK’s transport policy is in.
Firstly I read an encouraging announcement, in the
West Midlands a train station has been built to serve Coventry City football
club’s and Wasp Rugby Club’s Rioch Stadium. This seems great news until you
read further on in the announcement; the station will be closed on match days.
Why, because the trains on the line only have a 75-seat capacity, and that
there will be no longer trains in the foreseeable future. So we have wasted
money on new transport infrastructure, there is obviously no joined up
approach.
Next on our local TV news they announced the building
of a new station at Low Moor in Bradford, with the objective of getting
commuters out of their cars and onto the train, thus relieving congestion. A
laudable effort, then as almost an aside the reporter said that one train an
hour will stop there. Let me be clear that sort of frequency is not going to
attract the majority of car owners. They will require a comparable flexibility
that they enjoy in their car. Again not a joined up approach in transport
planning and provision.
The BBC is broadcasting a series about railways in
Mumbai, and tonight one of the presenters visited the carriage maintenance
workshops. He commented on the numbering system that clearly showed how old the
carriages are. With a shocked voice he said that some could be 25 years old.
Well I have news for him, some of the high speed trains on the East Coast
Mainline between York and London were built in the mid-seventies so are 40
years old.
I conclude that there is very little realistic
infrastructure planning, and that in some ways are railways are behind those in
India. It could only be in England.
I must disagree with your last line, Nigel! I'm not sure England has the monopoly on disconnected planning. There are two half finished roads nearby, the "Circumferential Highway" in Essex, arcing through maybe 90 degrees, if that, and the "Southern Connector" in south Burlington, a weedy paved lane, never used. I believe environmental regulations, permitting, or the discovery of a waste site in the pathway stymied the complete construction of each of these. One might have thought that those permits etc. would have been obtained as part of the planning process...
ReplyDeleteAnd I have another quibble with your dissatisfaction with English transportation. While you are aghast at a train that travels only once per hour, we must live with no trains at all or take the one train per day that goes from the north of Vermont to points south. This one train is fairly convenient if going anywhere near the I89-I91 roadways, and one can travel at 9:00 a.m. on the way south, but the way north chronically runs late, as it loses time all the way from DC north, getting in to Essex anywhere from 8:15 - 9:15p.m. And there is little if any parking near the station. Not sure this perspective will lighten your critique, but we think English transport is a terrific system:)!!
Karin - We are indeed spoilt, but when you live in a crowded island as we do you come to expect more. I suppose what is common between our two countries is the lack of joined up planning.
DeleteI think that you are a little down on your rail connectivity, it is double what you say, you could always take the ferry to Port Kent and from there to NYC.
Last year I caught the train from Philadelphia to New York and was surprised as to how old fashioned it was. It was just not on the same planet as the best of European trains. Tomorrow Thomas and family are travelling from London to Avignon in France in well under six hours!!!
Still we will have to visit the Long Island Railroad museum in two weeks time to see the great pioneering era of North American rairoads.
The museum sounds fascinating! I remember that the York RR museum was highly recommended to Gaelan and I prior to our trip. I couldn't imagine a RR museum being a big point of focus, then I found myself feeling it was one of the best museums of the trip! We are very much looking forward to seeing you and Marion soon. I must email Marion to confirm logistics.
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