Reply to: Government to order review of costly project no-one wants.....

[Mordac]

No toll roads in Germany but I agree totally with the rest...

No, but then you don't have anywhere as hideous as Birmingham*, which people are happy to pay £5 something to avoid.

*I've never been to the former East Germany, but I'm willing to bet there's somewhere there that's almost as bad...

[clearedforlanding]

No toll roads in Germany but I agree totally with the rest...

We ******* need them. Elephant races & the rest.

[darmstadt]

Having recently driven through France, Germany, and Italy the fast roads tend to be toll charged with, from what I experienced, the non-toll roads left to decay (particularly in Italy where there were more potholes per mile than in Blackburn) presumably to entice people onto the toll roads.

No toll roads in Germany but I agree totally with the rest...

[Hobosapien]

Yup, pretty much spot on, although it was quite a few years from when the war ended until the TGV etc tracks were laid.

When the French/Germans/Japanese rebuilt after the war, they ended up with fast trains, fast roads, etc. We ended up with Milton Keynes.

Having recently driven through France, Germany, and Italy the fast roads tend to be toll charged with, from what I experienced, the non-toll roads left to decay (particularly in Italy where there were more potholes per mile than in Blackburn) presumably to entice people onto the toll roads.

The fast trains in mainland Europe can easily be routed to avoid the small towns and villages as there is so much arable land, not like in the UK where anything flat has already been built on to use the rivers, canals, and railways for the industrialisation we're still benefiting from.

The trains in this country are fast enough if they maintained the track properly and had kept the dual lines so there were less problems putting local and limited stop intercity trains on the same route. On the days I go into the nearest city for a few beers watching the sport I can take the train or bus. Both take about the same time as the train chugs along like it's got all day. The train should be way faster than the bus when comparing the routes. Improve what there is.

[Mordac]

Yup, pretty much spot on, although it was quite a few years from when the war ended until the TGV etc tracks were laid.

When the French/Germans/Japanese rebuilt after the war, they ended up with fast trains, fast roads, etc. We ended up with Milton Keynes.

How true!!

[Lance]

Yup, pretty much spot on, although it was quite a few years from when the war ended until the TGV etc tracks were laid.

When the French/Germans/Japanese rebuilt after the war, they ended up with fast trains, fast roads, etc. We ended up with Milton Keynes.

we did build fast roads.
They just don't have enough capacity for the traffic since 1980.

[WTFH]

Shinkansen runs on it's own track, so does the French TGV. I think the same in Germany. All had their railways bombed to smithereens in WW2 so they could basically start over. That's our problem, the Germans didn't do enough damage!

qh

Yup, pretty much spot on, although it was quite a few years from when the war ended until the TGV etc tracks were laid.

When the French/Germans/Japanese rebuilt after the war, they ended up with fast trains, fast roads, etc. We ended up with Milton Keynes.

[NigelJK]

The French compulsorily purchased huge tracks of land for the TGV programme. It was still cheaper than developing a tilting train as per the APT.

[quackhandle]

Having been to Japan, not just looked at videos on the internet, they have a very efficient train service. The video shared above is about a commuter train, not the Shinkansen.

The “guys in white gloves” are the platform conductors.
The trains run on time, are clean and efficient.
They are part public/part private sector

...but hey, best reject any foreign ideas that work based on not wanting to understand them, and try to do it all ourselves.

Shinkansen runs on it's own track, so does the French TGV. I think the same in Germany. All had their railways bombed to smithereens in WW2 so they could basically start over. That's our problem, the Germans didn't do enough damage!

qh

[OwlHoot]

Get hold of an old carriage and turn it into the ultimate mobile summer house.

My neighbour thinks I was mad to buy a load of railway cuttings, even though I only paid a knock down price as the executors of the previous owner's will just wanted shot of them. Some people are so short-sighted.

The way I figure things, in a few years there will be a big demand for unobtrusive and secure storage areas for giant batteries, for electric vehicle charging, and when that time comes I may be able to rent space to energy suppliers.

[JohntheBike]

No! Not that one!

HS2: Review to examine costs and benefits of rail project - BBC News

Maybe people have finally worked out that all it will do is bleed Birmingham dry?

Given HMG's pledge to reduce emissions, I guess it might have been better to finance a project to electrify all of the rail network rather than spend a huge amount on a new infrastructure. At least then there would be less dependency on diesel fuel with a possible reduction in pollution.

It's the same with plastics. If HMG were serious about reducing plastic pollution, then a law should be introduced to ensure that all liquids should be sold in glass bottles. But then the petro chemical industry would suffer as it provides the raw materials for plastics.

However, as I've said many times, nothing is done in this World unless someone benefits financially. It's not about what is right and proper or fair.

[Hobosapien]

I'm told the last chuff chuff want past in the 1960s.

Those trainspotters sure are a determined bunch. Hope you take them a cup of tea now and then.

[Lance]

Well it was not Farage's proposal. But Farage agreed with the caller.

I agree with you your initial start point - but I want to see Liverpool, Sheffield, Hull and Newcastle added then Birmingham.

Then instead of rebuilding Houses of parliament, they can relocate them in the Yorkshire moors. Making the UK less London centric should be a priority.

Hebden Bridge I heard suggested as venue for parliament. Close enough to the centre of gravity of the country. It's metropolitan (full of lesbians). It's Yorkshire Dales rather than Moors but close enough.

[NigelJK]

Get hold of an old carriage and turn it into the ultimate mobile summer house.

[OwlHoot]

Oh, look, those stupid Victorians already thought of it:

Great Central Railway - Wikipedia

Until it got Beechinged along with umpteen thousand other miles of railways.

Hey don't knock Beeching - I've just completed the purchase of half a mile of abandoned 50 feet deep railway cutting, adjoining the end of my garden, including both sides. So I now have a lifetime supply of wood, from the literally hundreds of mature trees growing all along the sides, and a two or three acre completely secure and private area along the old tracks between two bridges, for growing this or that or walking the mutt if I ever acquired one.

I'm told the last chuff chuff want past in the 1960s.