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Quote: It seems to me that we are talking about providing better infrastructure for that part of the country which already has the best infrastructure in the UK.
Try living where I do.
Sorry about the rant but this sort of thing really gets my goat.
So what is your government doing about it?
I see they have been talking about double decker trains, lol no good for the lines and tunnels we already have.
Quote: I see they have been talking about double decker trains, lol no good for the lines and tunnels we already have.
Indeed, because the European loading gauge that is a possibility.
We did once have some double-deck trains for commuter traffic from Kent into London but they weren't overly successful, hence only two units being built. They had stepped compartments with the upper ones' seats above the heads of the lower compartment passengers, but the upper compartments were cramped and poorly ventilated. Surprisingly, they were in service from 1946 right through to 1971.
http://dart75.tripod.com/bddscut.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR_Class_4DD
Quote: So what is your government doing about it?
What can it do when the budget for this single project (giving people who have the best infrastructure an even better one) is greater than the annual budget for the entire Scottish nation.
Rebalancing the UK economy the government says - my ar*e.
The actual construction will not take 20 years for a start.
But how many we're killed in the construction of the original line?
Would we accept travelling at 225mph with the tolerances from 1842 (or whenever). That's not just engineering, but choice of line direction.
Would we as a society accept just ploughing through whole communities with little or no recompense as was the case back in the 1840s.
In the 1840s there was a vast labour pool willing to work at low wages, we were in a time of great social and economic upheaval ( similar in many ways to the Great Depression). There was the Potato famine in Ireland (hence the large numbers of navies), would we accept a similar number of economic migrants from say Poland to aid construction?
Reading through most of the posts there seems an awful lot of criticism. My view is its gotta be great for the country in the long term and will certainly provide an enourmous amount of jobs at a time when jobs are needed. All the same objections were raised when the M1, M6, M25, the Olympic Site and the Eurostar line were planned and now we accept them and not only that we are we glad we built them -- So lets get on with it and start digging as soon as we can.
Firstly, let me admit to not having read or heard enough about this line to make a truly informed opinion, but in at least two interviews I heard yesterday the "fors" were stating that it'll be wonderful for commuters and therefore businesses. I work for a large multinational company. in the UK we have 700 employees, right now, 60 of those are permanently based at home, and 340 work from home at least one day a week. Are we even going to have commuters in 20 years time?
The problem I have with it is that it is extremely limited and I have not yet seen anything which suggests an intention to upgrade local infrastructures to allow people to keep the hour they have just saved between London and Oop North.
Much has been made of the fact that other countries already have high speed lines. Little has been said about the fact those countries have far larger areas to cover than we do in the UK.
I am all for improving communications but consider this:
- more people every year choose to hold video conferencing meetings instead of wasting time and money on travel
- you can already get between Manchester and London in a tad over 2 hours
- as has already been pointed out, by the time this is built technology will have moved on so planning has to make it as future proof as possible. That means plans and costs will escalate over time and it will end up costing 5 times the quoted figure
- to my knowledge none of the billions are earmarked to improve local infrastructure, so having saved an hour on your journey you will still be stuck in local traffic for several hours
I love nothing more than technology and progress, but I am extremely skeptical about whether this will repay the massive investment, let alone improve the economy anywhere more than 10 miles from the few stops along the line.
Its cos the south is sinking whereas the north is rising, that and houses are cheaper oop norf and now they've cut mps expenses for second homes ... 
Quote: How many turbines can you fit on a train?!
Well they might as well drag 'em around, when there's no wind blowing it'd be the only way to make the windmills go round 
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