LETTERS
Email your views to
opinion@railtechnologymagazine.com
From: Graham Nalty MA Subject: HS2 Charter
My attention has been directed to your blog on April 8 regarding the HS2 charter.
The management team on HS2 are very highly qualified people at the peak of their career, and they have produced reports of outstanding clarity in making their decisions appear transparent.
However despite the quality of their work, the overall resulting route
has been subject to
considerable criticism and even the need for building high- speed routes has been seriously questioned by highly influential people, including a former chancellor of the exchequer.
This indicates a very serious matter, as failure to address the many concerns will significantly reduce the numbers of jobs in the rail industry of the future.
If high-speed rail becomes as
successful in the UK as in other European countries, there will be a growing number of jobs in providing extra feeder rail services to the city centre stations served by high speed trains. The growth in demand for rail in the high speed corridors will make the demand for rail grow on other routes giving a more positive business case for expanding all services and building new lines.
Your blog writer asks the question of the charter participants: what would you do differently?
I would like to show one area where I would do things differently. For trains into Birmingham city centre, I would not put the high speed station ten minutes’ walk away from New Street. I would either decide that all high speed trains to Birmingham were 12-coach UK trains that could run into New Street, and on to Walsall or Wolverhampton at the operator’s wishes - or build a new station at the site between Moor Street and the projected Fazeley Street station which would accommodate all the trains that now call at New Street. The new station would accept European gauge 400m trains and would offer quick and easy interchange between high speed trains and feeder trains to the Birmingham suburbs and beyond, with space for growth and new services.
I find it very strange that such a fundamental
error in railway
operating practice of spending £10bn to cut 20 minutes on the London - Birmingham journey time, only to lose at least ten minutes in additional walking time (carrying heavy suitcases?) to make the connection.
If I were in the privileged position of interviewing and selecting a candidate from your excellent website for a senior railway operating post and the candidate suggested in the interview that it was OK that the Birmingham high speed station to be ten minutes walk from its connecting services, that candidate would not get the job. What do your readers who work in railway operating think?
To view the original blog go to
http://www.railjobsblog.com/Yes- but.htm
From: Mike Roebuck, international rail consultant, Dewsbury Subject: Class 322s for Yorkshire
Good news for those living along 24 | rail technology magazine Apr/May 11
the electrified routes out of Leeds, but not for those of us living along the heavily overcrowded Leeds - Huddersfield corridor, which is by far the most congested in the county (according to the PTE’s own figures).
Any country which seriously believed in public transport would have already electrified all the main routes in the West Yorkshire PTE area and equipped them with new trains with adequate capacity. That this one doesn’t is patently obvious.
From: Dr Peter Jarvis, Ffestiniog Railway Subject: Class 322s for Yorkshire
When you need a train to go home, a 322 is welcome. The 321s outstayed their welcome because of the draught round the doors.
At rush hours on our line, we dig out the 1876 stock and say “Aren’t you lucky to ride on this vintage train, just as they did in the late nineteenth century? How historic…” Trouble is, they can’t serve the beer in compartment stock, as they do in the modern vehicles.
If things are really tight, we produce the 1864 four-wheel carriages and say “Hold on to your top hats and crinolines, this is the longest roller-coaster in the world...” The third-class 1864 carriage, where you pull the leather apron over your knees to keep out the rain, is one of life’s experiences.
Yes, these things still go on in the remoter corners of the Empire...
From: Robert Burch, Redhill Subject: Our rail system
Our railway system reaches north, east, south and west and is based on a standard gauge. In the days of steam and early diesel, trains
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228