- zonar
- Jan 4, 2012
-
That was a BAD business decision!
|
Bozza posted:
Believe me, the 319s are certainly far from the worst trains in Britain. For those look no further than the Pacer railbus. The WORST trains in the UK by a long stretch:
I'm not sure about how bad Arriva are, relative to how bad the rest of them are, but they definitely don't seem to be great. I've only really been using trains for the last year or so, and rates have definitely hiked significantly, even since then. If I paid full price for a ticket from where I live to Cardiff (half-hour journey by train), it'd be about £6 for a return, up from £4 or something like that a year or two back.
It's way smaller then jumps/costs elsewhere in the UK, definitely, but that's not exactly praise for the rail companies.
|
#
¿
May 8, 2012 01:04
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2024 20:06
|
|
- zonar
- Jan 4, 2012
-
That was a BAD business decision!
|
Despite the headline, Balls doesn't really say that he opposes or dislikes HS2, but that he thinks the coalition has done it wrong, which isn't a massive surprise.
I remain not an expert on HS2, but it seems like at least a step in the right direction if it'll alleviate pressure on the West Coast Main Line. As the Demand Nothing article says, there are better things to do, but they'd be less headline-grabbing than HS2 is, and we're unlikely to see a transport minister who'll do smaller things to improve the railway system overall than an expensive and fancy system.
I do like how that article says £30 billion, but I'm sure there's articles which pin the HS2 cost as lower than that.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2013 21:33
|
|
- zonar
- Jan 4, 2012
-
That was a BAD business decision!
|
Speaking of rail investment, the Welsh Assembly Government approved the South Wales Metro recently. Any opinions on if the measures it includes would be useful?
quote:A multi-million pound project to bring a long-awaited overhaul to the transport network of South East Wales has finally been given the green light by the Welsh Government... It means a total of £62m will be ploughed into the scheme over the next three years – including £28.7m in 2014-2015 and £29.8m in 2015-2016, as well as £3.5m this year.
The Echo understands the initial tranche of funding for the long-mooted scheme is not yet appropriated to specific programmes, but First Minister Carwyn Jones has previously said he wanted to increase the rail network’s coverage of the east of Cardiff and links with Newport alongside greater link-ups with the Valleys.
An independent task force, commissioned by the Welsh Government, produced a report in June which detailed new railway stations and routes, as well as priority bus lanes and light rail, which would better connect the region.
The group – whose membership included representation from one of the region’s biggest employers in insurance giant Admiral – had recommended a package of “phase one” projects worth £90m.
This included £15m for bus priority corridors – which include an “express bus” between the city centre and Cardiff Airport – and £13m for station improvements, such as park and ride.
Longer-term plans included proposals for rapid transit in and around Cardiff, priority bus corridors both north-south and cross-Valleys, new routes between central Cardiff and the city’s north west, a new light rail system linking Cardiff Queen St, Callaghan Square, Cardiff Bay, the enterprise zone and Cardiff Central and a Caerphilly-Newport new rail line on disused rail corridor.
Confirmation of the go-ahead of the scheme and investment was published alongside the Welsh Government’s draft budget proposals, which saw cuts applied to local government totalling around £150m for next year, but an extra £570m for the health budget over the next three years.
However, local government will take a huge hit to its budget, with nearly £150m shaved off its revenue next year, with a further £106m the following year... Eluned Parrott, Welsh Liberal Democrat transport spokeswoman and South Wales Central AM, said: “In the past, the South Wales East Metro system has been mooted by the Welsh Government but we’ve never seen confirmation that this is going ahead. If this is indeed confirmation of the beginning of the South Wales East Metro, albeit with the small funding attached to it, this is to be welcomed.
“For a truly transformational metro programme, a significant amount of investment will be required in the years ahead. The electrification of the south Wales line by the coalition government, along with the associated infrastructure boost if the regional metro is developed, will help improve the economy of south Wales by growing connectivity.”
Byron Davies, the Shadow Transport Minister, said: “It is clear that the transport system needs urgent improvement across Wales and this investment must be given a cautious welcome.”
He added: “More must now be done and I hope similar schemes follow elsewhere in Wales.”
If nothing else, electrifying the lines seems like it'd be a positive move?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 9, 2013 14:13
|
|
- zonar
- Jan 4, 2012
-
That was a BAD business decision!
|
Is anyone here aware of any good books about British rail/it's history? I'm vaguely aware of most of it/could probably brush up my knowledge, but I'm sure there's a few good books on it here and there and most of the thread regulars would probably have genuinely good recommendations.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 6, 2013 13:45
|
|
- Adbot
-
ADBOT LOVES YOU
|
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2024 20:06
|
|
- zonar
- Jan 4, 2012
-
That was a BAD business decision!
|
It definitely seems to be more strict the further south you travel with regards to being in possession of a ticket prior to boarding. The Metrolink is a bastard for stinging people for fines as you can't buy a ticket on board from what I've heard.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2014 20:30
|
|
#
¿
May 8, 2012 01:04
