Recent content by eldomtom2

The opposite to this argument, which I have no doubt many of the general public will make, is "there's no point in the railways being well maintained if I can't afford to ride them".

But my point wasn't that the precise method of reducing diesel running under wires was a no brainer, it was that the end goal is desirable and the various methods of achieving that goal should be investigated to see what is best. We shouldn't use "there are multiple different ways of achieving...

Well the question then becomes "is the North equal to the Southeast in terms of passengers per station per homes/jobs within X distance of the station?".

...but that doesn't mean it won't get GBR livery. After all, it doesn't have a special "Night Riviera" livery at the moment!

I wouldn't say a "no brainer" means "there is absolutely nothing preventing it from happening". But eliminating diesel running under wires seems a fairly obvious objective to work towards as an ultimate goal.

The Night Riviera is prestige enough to get it, in my opinion. It's the Sprinters where them ever receiving GBR livery is doubtful.

Well, you also have to take into account that building anything in the UK takes too long and costs too much. If the railway could get things done quicker and for less money, a lot more projects would become viable...

If the railway really is offering those outside London a better deal as you seem to be claiming then it is best advised to prominently advertise that fact, considering the public perception of the railways is that they are heavily London-biased and provide a much better and more value-for-money...

I am not sure you can so easily split "marketing tool" and "social benefit" like that. Just because something pays for itself doesn't mean it isn't a benefit, and furthermore just because something pays for itself in area A does not mean subsidies to introduce it into area B are unjustified - if...

But this is the "rich get richer" issue that those wanting a national railcard want to address, where the South East gets more money because it gets more passengers relative to its population, and it gets more passengers because it gets more money.

The actual "why" from the people with influence who are calling for it is mainly to give a benefit that is currently enjoyed by the most affluent and economically active region of England to the rest of it in the hopes of reducing the socioeconomic disparity between regions.

At smaller American stations you can generally wait on the platform, however.

This is perhaps a perspective that paints politics as more technocratic than it actually is. Governments do not just subsidise the railway because of its actual benefits; they also subsidise it because it gets them votes. Therefore, questions of "fairness" are likely to be high in politicians'...

Fairly large step if this is accurate. Looks like a HS1-style concession could be on the cards, as well as a degree of land value capture. https://inews.co.uk/news/hs2-lite-manchester-back-table-burnham-who-pay-4679721

Not the first case of a worker being fatally struck by a train in Japan this year, sadly. According to the Japan Transport Safety Board's website in addition to this incident there was another fatality in March this year.