Gareth Marston
Established Member
were all "bi" on the Cambrian these days....
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
On what basis do you make this rather bold statement?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And perhaps those who support / like / believe in railways or merely earn their living from them, need to be prepared. Too late once the closure notices are published.
No-one knows what is being considered behind the scenes, you can be sure that a whole range of options to cut back further the public sector are being discussed. Some people with influence regard railway expenditure as a drain on the public purse - hence the think tank report referred to in an earlier post. What is 'extreme' today can become mainstream very quickly.
Just how many people (in the general population, not this forum) would actually care if the odd withered railway limb was closed? How many councils have already, or are now considering, cutting all their subsidised bus services? Unthinkable once, now far fewer people use buses and of those only a small number use the subsidised services, thus little outcry over their removal.
The fact that passenger numbers and revenue continued to grow meaning subsidy kept coming down has averted any recession induced proposals from rearing their heads far. The railway was cutting costs anyway unlike some other Govt Departments. Certainly for the shorter and medium term this trend will avert any further attacks though I agree all sorts of think tanks etc have their own agendas. Look what happens when we talk about serious investment in rail - HS2!
The S""@ storm@ versus any savings has to be a factor any politician will consider, remember we still have the Central Wales line because of marginals at the time. Research keeps pointing out that over 50% of the population use the railways at some point each year much higher than for buses.
