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I used to live 100m from the route of the 18/32 until 1993. But, at that time, it was non-stop through the closest area to me, because of the monopoly that NCT had at my closest stop with the 13. Days before deregulation...
At that time, I remember the 18/32 was always pretty well used (with a...
If this was desirable, instead of converting a precious 158, couldn't an active travel 153 be used? I suspect that there wouldn't be a significant impact on journey times.
You are only required to take off all of your luggage in the Bulgaria to Turkey direction (so that Turkish customs can X-ray your luggage and sweep the train). If the other direction, it is only the people who have to get off. As @Lxd2 says, there is no chance of the train leaving you behind...
At the risk of opening things up unhelpfully, could the class 395 be redeployed to long distance routes from the southeast to the north via kensington olympia, while the HS1 routes get new trains?
Tblisi is very much centred around the river. Some nice old buildings, and some interesting signature bridges. It's all in a valley, with a couple of cable car routes to viewpoints in the surrounding mountains. It's pretty easy to find good value accommodation.
The main rail station is at one...
I realise that it is not the reason that this application has gone in. But say the application wasn't all the way to London, but to one of the stations just north (but on Thameslink) - for example Luton Airport Parkway or St Albans. What would this do to 1) the abstraction and 2) the economics...
There are no trains between Turkey and either Georgia or Armenia. There is a line between Tblisi and Yerevan, but it is quite a lot slower than going by road.
The border between Turkey and both Georgia and Armenia are in pretty remote east end of Turkey. So don't underestimate how long it will...
Unless the railway station owns all of the roads around them, it would be impossible. It only works for airports because of their ownership of the roads.
So, in terms of charging by the railways, never.
Of course, road pricing more generally seems inevitable, as soon as it becomes politically...
I have been on the Japanese experimental Maglev - although it was almost 20 years ago. The acceleration and deceleration was such that it was required for all passengers to be confirmed seated before it could set off. It wasn't quite aircraft carrier or roller coaster levels of acceleration, but...
I have a feeling that the level of societal discipline that enables this to work in Tokyo (including queues on the platform for the next 2 trains, people prevented from boarding trains early even when the door are open by signs saying 'please don't board yet', and a culture where most people...
Sorry for the ambiguity. I meant in Japan. And it is pretty much universally respected. Getting caught just once (and to be clear - this is not crossing when the lights are on, it's not coming to a complete stop before the crossing when there are no red lights) means your insurance premium goes...
It's the law that vehicles have to come to a complete stop before crossing level crossings. Many a driver has been caught out by police stings on people who haven't quite stopped.
Most crossings have multiple detectors against people crossing when the barriers are coming down - with visual...
There is a clear acceptance in Japan that when commuting in a major cities (unless you pay the supplement to travel in the 'Green Car' or on the various 'Liner' or equivalent services) then if you travel at peak time, the experience will be horrible. So folks are informed. And there is no...
I was thinking about the very different approach to level crossings in Tokyo. While there is a programme to try to get rid of them, it is normally by elevating the line or putting the line in a tunnel. It is very rare for them to be closed. What is striking is that there are thousands of them...
While your main point is correct - that Japanese private railways were generally constructed with real estate in mind, the history here is a bit garbled. The line that is now the Seibu Ikebukuro line predates the massive department store in Ikebukuro. Both were renamed later to Seibu, which is...
I have seen many tunnels linking stations around the world. Apart from where they are trivially short, they only work where either there is large natural footfall between the 2 stations across all periods of the day, or there is sufficient demand for the tunnels to incorporate access to...
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