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  1. M

    East-West Rail (EWR): Consultation updates [not speculation]

    Section 3.98 of the backup document states: Less emphasis here on new housing opportunities, more on the hoped-for economic boost. But encouraging in the sense that building to Cambridge still figures in Government thinking.
  2. M

    Wensleydale Railway... Current goings-on?

    There's perhaps another small market for Northallerton-originating customers. I once rode in a well-used DMU from Northallerton to Redmire on a snowy day (about 1982?) for a Dales Rail style ramble. Might justify monthly or weekly journeys?
  3. M

    What rolling stock could be used on East West Rail (EWR) when the line is completed?

    I tried to see what the planned ruling linespeed on Bletchley to Bedford will be on the assumption that the rationalised, reduced number of stations, approach is taken. I couldn't find a number, but sincerely hope that it comfortably exceeds 60 mph / near 100 kph given the significant upgrade...
  4. M

    Stations which became the victim of circumstance

    I used it to interchange Altrincham - S - S - Leeds every Friday evening and every Monday morning in the mid-70's. Bonus: the café-bar at Stalybridge, since service frequencies were very poor then.
  5. M

    Why the Portishead Delay?

    i have just complained, not very gently, on the gov.uk website about this further delay to a part of the Phase 1 proposal. In particular - no proper explanation has been provided for a six-month further delay. Is it unreasonable for me to feel miffed, cross, angry...?
  6. M

    UK Connectivity Review

    Concerning bridge or tunnel, see the separate document https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1035650/a-fixed-link-between-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-technical-feasibility.pdf This can be summarised as it is, just about...
  7. M

    You can finally spend a penny at Shipley! (Old station building turned into toilets and waiting room)

    Brilliant news. Even better: you don't need to find a penny or spend a single sou - they're free. The development of railways seems sometimes glacially slow. But my first experiences of Shipley were of the slow reverse beyond the station that characterised stopping services between Skipton and...
  8. M

    Least used electrified mainline

    Concerning the line over the Garabit viaduct. Currently and since last December no service, but potential good news at https://www.ladepeche.fr/2021/05/14/un-pacte-etat-regions-pour-sauver-le-train-aubrac-9544412.php on 14/05/2021: " Depuis plusieurs années, la ligne de chemin de fer qui relie...
  9. M

    Work on Okehampton Line: progress updates

    https://www.networkrailconsulting.com/news-and-publications/news/network-rail-launches-new-ultrasonic-test-unit/ UTU test is therefore resumably ultrasonic test unit. This suggests later work on the Meldon Quarry extension, perhaps linked to freight extension a little later than the hourly...
  10. M

    East-West Rail (EWR): Consultation updates [not speculation]

    There's a fairly well informed article in the Bedford Independent of 04/03/2021 entitled "Oxford-Cambridge Arc: How will East-West rail impact Bedford?". It's available at: https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/oxford-cambridge-arc-how-will-east-west-rail-impact-bedford/ The Rail Freight Group...
  11. M

    Work on Okehampton Line: progress updates

    It would be good to have the choice of such a lack of resilience. Today, we have Dawlish only. Reopening even as far as Okehampton is a very positive development. In fact, s'wonderful.
  12. M

    Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) - Latest plans & speculation

    Except that now you've all but told me, we both know? 8-) Actually, my point concerns the potential returns on via-Bradford and via-Huddersfield options. Perhaps pouring money into Bradford will never work - but it might, and there are ways to evaluate likely outcomes. After that, good...
  13. M

    Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) - Suggestions and speculation

    Ah yes, the Rennes metro - which I know very well, since I have lived in a tower block not a hundred metres from a Ligne B station under construction! The Rennes metro system, two lines, will have cost about 4 billion € or a little more - in almost flat terrain and in a very young city with...
  14. M

    Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) - Suggestions and speculation

    The economic case for it was awful. Money was spent on the bridge at much the same time that British Rail was being starved of cash. The latter led to massive capital disinvestment - a successful BR manager was one who closed something. Great, that saved money - that has since had to be spent...
  15. M

    Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) - Suggestions and speculation

    Neither you nor I can know in advance. £4bn up-front is a lot of money; amortised over 60 or 100 years, it's not a lot. My sense of fair-play and equity shouts for Bradford NPR. But this will ultimately be a political decision. I will have no direct influence on that decision. Politicians...
  16. M

    Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) - Suggestions and speculation

    Investment is about spending money to make more money. Obviously, where the seedcorn investment is largely public - as with new railways - priorities have to be established. London and the south-east don't need seedcorn investment. Eastern and central England are to get East West Rail. Northern...
  17. M

    Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) - Suggestions and speculation

    Playing (very loosely!) saintly defender, that may be so - but I doubt it's a zero-sum game. In an ideal world (not our pox-ridden Brexit-infested one) UK plc would try to position itself "globally"(!) on a northern arc that linked Dublin, Belfast, Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford, Huddersfield...
  18. M

    Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) - Suggestions and speculation

    It will be a political decision to build NPR and a political decision as to whether the line serves Bradford or Huddersfield. Johnson claims to favour levelling up. On those grounds, a via-Bradford routing will be the Yorkshire political preference. Huddersfield will be well served by a...
  19. M

    National Infrastructure Strategy

    The list of slightly-funded propositions - previously-announced round 1 and newly-announced round 2 - can be seen at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/938907/restoring-your-railway-successful-bids.csv/preview: There are no details...

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