Bantamzen
Established Member
<Puts on tin hat>
Actually, whilst there is certainly an element of anti public transport feel about the blog (and that is what it is), the author does raise some important points. Firstly, and most importantly is the impact of the massive delay & overspend of the project, most of which cannot be attributed to covid. Like it or not, but funding decisions in the public sector are massively influenced on previous projects. If one goes over budget, or is delayed, or both this can & does impact on future aspirations. Politicians & Civil Servants are for the most part very risk adverse, if something goes wrong they tend not to want to go back there if they can help it. We've already seen parts of HS2 scaled back, and there is scope for more of that to come such as the Manchester leg, or frankly anything north of Birmingham. And don't get me started on NPR, which started out as basically a HS3 but has withered down to a half-arsed commitment to throw some wires at the easy bits of track, and if we are really, really lucky a bit of double tracking, again if its easy.
Secondly the author discusses what financial value Crossrail will bring. Sure it will make some journeys easier for existing commuters, and will make others so too, But will it generate new revenue? Now to be fair the author does seem to have expected some contingency planning for the pandemic long before it was known to be a thing, which is totally unfair. But nonetheless the question remains, will it attract new business, new passengers? After all it is a hugely expensive, and dare I say it massively over-engineered project to make life a bit easier for some London-based commuters. This again will influence future spending decisions. For all that it looks fantastic, and Crossrail does look fantastic, the vast cost of those massive, cavernous stations, tunnels and trains will be scrutinised by politicians and Civil Servants alike. If all it achieves is a spreading out of loads rather than lots of new business, then this will be taken into account in the planning & approval of other projects.
But worse still, if Crossrail sees TfL going under completely, which frankly is not out of the question, what will that mean for aspirations of similar models elsewhere? Given that we currently have a government keen on spending cuts (with an opposition far from looking like forming the next one two years from now), and frankly lukewarm at best on future public transport initiatives, this should be a worry to anyone with a vested interest in public transport, be it as a user or enthusiast. This is, in my humble opinion, was what the author was getting at.
<Takes off tin hat, runs to bunker>
Actually, whilst there is certainly an element of anti public transport feel about the blog (and that is what it is), the author does raise some important points. Firstly, and most importantly is the impact of the massive delay & overspend of the project, most of which cannot be attributed to covid. Like it or not, but funding decisions in the public sector are massively influenced on previous projects. If one goes over budget, or is delayed, or both this can & does impact on future aspirations. Politicians & Civil Servants are for the most part very risk adverse, if something goes wrong they tend not to want to go back there if they can help it. We've already seen parts of HS2 scaled back, and there is scope for more of that to come such as the Manchester leg, or frankly anything north of Birmingham. And don't get me started on NPR, which started out as basically a HS3 but has withered down to a half-arsed commitment to throw some wires at the easy bits of track, and if we are really, really lucky a bit of double tracking, again if its easy.
Secondly the author discusses what financial value Crossrail will bring. Sure it will make some journeys easier for existing commuters, and will make others so too, But will it generate new revenue? Now to be fair the author does seem to have expected some contingency planning for the pandemic long before it was known to be a thing, which is totally unfair. But nonetheless the question remains, will it attract new business, new passengers? After all it is a hugely expensive, and dare I say it massively over-engineered project to make life a bit easier for some London-based commuters. This again will influence future spending decisions. For all that it looks fantastic, and Crossrail does look fantastic, the vast cost of those massive, cavernous stations, tunnels and trains will be scrutinised by politicians and Civil Servants alike. If all it achieves is a spreading out of loads rather than lots of new business, then this will be taken into account in the planning & approval of other projects.
But worse still, if Crossrail sees TfL going under completely, which frankly is not out of the question, what will that mean for aspirations of similar models elsewhere? Given that we currently have a government keen on spending cuts (with an opposition far from looking like forming the next one two years from now), and frankly lukewarm at best on future public transport initiatives, this should be a worry to anyone with a vested interest in public transport, be it as a user or enthusiast. This is, in my humble opinion, was what the author was getting at.
<Takes off tin hat, runs to bunker>