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Netherlands is the size of a German state both geographically and population so isn't that comparable to England but instead a German state. If the average population of German states is a little over 5.2 million and the average size of around 22,000 sq kilometres. So if England were divided in...

Bus deregulation outside of London.

To answer this question we'd also need to consider some quite radical changes to how the UK is governed. Despite devolution to Scotland and Wales as well as some more piecemeal devolution deals to some local authorities in England, the UK is still a highly centralised state in comparison to many...

Assuming that the political backdrop was as per history, but Major's government had not been able to get the 1993 Act through Parliament, I think the following may have happened instead. Firstly, I think Major's government would have tried to introduce greater private sector involvement into...

Blaming the UK for the various EU Rail Package Directives really doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Firstly it would not have become law had not enough countries supported it. It is therefore European legislation decided at a European level rather than some UK/Tory conspiracy. Secondly the first...

Someone already thought of that a while back. 1717626365 I was banking on a multi rollover week. I'd probably also need an exemption to be able to shoot a few NIMBYs as well. But other than that, this is basically a workable plan.....!!

The best option would be to correct the mistakes of Oswestry's forefathers by building a new section of line branching off the Shrewsbury to Chester line somewhere near Rednall to somewhere just south of the point where the Oswestry to Llynclys line crosses the A483, redouble the track between...

As much as I'd like to see Oswestry served by a regular rail service, and although I know that there are a handful of branches of a similar length still in use, I have some doubt whether if several million to reopen the Oswestry to Gobowen branch is money well spent.

In terms of cost, given that the cost of running the railways is underwritten quite substantially by the tax payer, I am reasonably most tax payers would wish their money spent wisely on the most effective way to move traffic by rail. If the railways don't continually modernise they become (or...

The purpose of the national rail network is to move passengers and freight. It isn't to be a glorified museum. That's what heritage railways are for. Where semaphores have been replaced by colour lights it has often been in conjunction with the elimination of several manual signal boxes with...

It may have occasionally been used as a lay by siding but I doubt the Shrewsbury to Chester line was that congested that this needed to happen often. The main purpose of the remaining branch infrastructure post 1966 and also when simplified post 1987 was directly associated with freight...

As mentioned by Gloster, the branch wasn't listed for closure. I am not so sure that was an error though. I seem to recall reading (possibly on another thread here) that footfall at Oswestry was comparable to, if not higher than Gobowen (which is in effect, Oswestry Parkway) today. I've not seen...

I think there's a significant risk that having regions and sectors creates significant problems. If the regions operate the sector in their area there is quite a significant risk of them operating them quite differently to one another. This would be not such an issue for the UK equivalent of...

Before I get shot down on this, it is a genuine question that I don't know the answer to. Would the reopening of this route assist with capacity on the Hope Valley route? Are there and significant freight flows that could effectively by-pass the Hope Valley by using this route instead...

That isn't correct is it? We did not have a structure at all like DB, SNCF etc and probably haven't at any time since sectorisation and prior to Organising for Quality. All four EU operators have kept rail and operations under the same roof (although there was a period where this wasn't quite...

Manutd1999 suggested a structure not dissimilar to the one I suggested. Moreover, as I suggested in an earlier post, it is the kind of structure that a number of EU railways have adopted to some extent. If we look at SNCF, DB, Renfe and Trenitalia, their operating divisions are divided by...

That sounds like a structure that would give rise to significant tensions between the 'brand' e.g Intercity or NSE , which would need some kind of overall management,especially to coordinate its regional sub-sectors, and the regions. The priorities of the brand (or call it sector) managers may...

Personally I'd favour traffic type, probably for similar reasons to sectorisation in the 1980s. It provides a market focus. Even if nationalised rail will still need to operate in a highly competitive environment so will need to still perform in a business like manner. Freight and open access...

I'm surprised now one has blown the dust of Virgin's 2002 proposals for some high speed cut offs for the ECML. However this wouldn't do anything for capacity at the southern end of the line. Virgin also proposed to reopen the Leamside Line. That would probably scupper more recent ambitions to...

How were we defining 'profitable' here? Revenue net of operating costs (access charges, leasing costs, staff, fuel/electricity, staff ages); or The above, plus the additional cost of premiums built into franchise agreements. The premiums the various failed franchisees offered suggest that all...