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Yes, but if the Labour party can subsidise the complete modernisation of the Blackpool tram, because of sentimental political attachment why can not the Tory Party do the same for a Southern english icon. As an Islander I find the attachment to a part of England stuck in the 50's (an idea that...

As you say. A lot of the propoosed routes required a lot of new flying junctions and some sections of new line built.

You'd think that but Heathrow was just trying to screw an extra £75 million out of the DFT over access charges. This got rejected at court and did not go down at the DFT.

I thought they were still sending four to Shepperton and four to Twickenham.

If I remember the lines shown are options for improving access to Heathrow. The line down the M25 obviates the need for a curve in Staines. With Western access to Slough, the link to Reading via Staines is not needed. I can't see the point for all that expensive and disruptive construction in...

There is no point in having a line linking the two airports on their own. But if at some point there is more money for various HS lines, then a circular line around London from the North to Brighton connnecting Heathrow and Gatwick would provide enough passengers for regaular services from...

Four platforms here will be useful for crossrail 2 services to terminate. Any long range scheme to ,say, put in a tunnel under Mortlake would need new stations at Richmond and Twickenham and you'd probably have to do the same again at Staines and Egham to get all the extra paths you need for...

There are no significant numbers of engineers twiddling their thumbs. There is worldwide infrastructure boom and many experienced people are earning big bucks in Asia and the Middle East. The UK has provided thin gruel by comparison in regards to workload and pay. Often big projects...

The thing is even if they wanted to go on a spending binge, it would take years to happen. Where are all the spare engineers? we are pushing the envelope now. For the future they are now building more training colleges etc for these things but it will be years before we see a boost in numbers...

Cambridge has turned into one of Europes most successful technology clusters. It's reached the stage where it's attracting ever more companies from around the globe to establish bases. If this was outside Europe, Cambridge would already have doubled in size and in another 20 years would be...

I'm sure there were concepts out there for family compartments.

It will be impossible to build and plan a new large city in this country. It will be new towns and suburbs hopefully served by new stations on existing lines or short spurs. New lines will need to connect major cities or be able to attract major commuter flows. The network faces a future of...

Hmm long term, assuming that population figures continue on trend then we will be seeing another 5 million plus in London and the SE in the next twenty plus years. It kind of suggests that the easy options to expand will be running out. Assuming the money can be found (ha ha), then at least...

Yes well I meant by rail. --- old post above --- --- new post below --- I think HS2 is a done deal, phase one will begin construction this parliament and phase two contracts before the 2020 election. Even if everyone said lets do this it'd be ten years at least before anything opened. Best...

I think it's best to see a through Heathrow service as a way of conveniently joining two separate services without having to turn trains around and occupy precious platform space. A through service to Paddington to Basingstoke would provide connectivity between that part of London and the M4...

I see Milton Keynes eventually becoming a 'Reading' an important destination in itself. The town is very successful and generates strong jobs growth and new business formation. It is destined to gain at least another 100,000 residents. East West Rail may become more about providing regional...

The problem is we don't run coaches with engines attached anymore. BR could run long trains easily and cheaply because they yards full of decades old (i.e. fully depreciated and therefore dirt cheap) coaches to call in times peak demand. The very idea today would give management an attack...

Doh! the Unions would demand that terms and conditions be set at the highest level!

It's these different deals that allow the constant merry go round of wage negotiation and more importantly one companies shortfall in staff require higher wages to get people to jump from on company to another. If there is only one company there is only one person recruiting, with one set of...

I don't know why the Unions are so keen for nationalisation. The fragmentation of the railway has allowed them to play one company off another. It's estimated that drivers wages are now a third higher than they would have been under BR. But I suppose there is an ideological commitment to...