Dft cuts - where?

[starrymarkb]

However, the ICE-TD has been a bit of a fiasco. Due to Germany charging DB the full cost of diesel to run them on the german network, DB have chosen to run them to/from Denmark so they can fill up with cheaper fuel

That and IIRC they were rather problematic too, I believe they were almost returned to Siemens at some point.

Also the IC4 problems have become a bit of a national scandal in Denmark, how many have been delivered so far? 7 years late and counting

 

[Metroland]

.

And people WANT to live in the country. Obviously not all, and it changes during your life (when I was young, living in London was everything). When you have kids or get older, you want more space - and unless you're rich, you aint getting that in town!

Quite so, and with house prices in town what they are, most people will have to commute, which means more transport demand. While home working does have a part to play, human nature is what it is, and most people find it very difficult to motivate themselves outside a work environment, and bosses know this.

Given this backdrop, if we look ahead to 2050, keeping the lights on while just keeping the demand steady (which has never been done throughout recent history, energy and transport demand continues to climb) is a massive challenge. For a start population is rising, as is demand for cheap flights, cars, more gadgets, and so on.

To quote from the Royal Academy of Engineering report on this;

On the demand side the sectors with the biggest changes are transport and
heating. The available supply of fossil fuel has been split between these two
demands. However, the constraint on carbon emissions means that there are
not enough fossil fuels to meet these demands and, as a result, significant
amounts of electrification are still required. In technological terms there are no choices to be made –
the demand is so large that every available technology will be needed as quickly as possible.

The main problems for scenario 1 will be buildability and cost to the nation.
With over 80 new nuclear or CCS power plants required – around two per year
– along with vast increases in all forms of renewables, building the system
would require an enormous effort, probably only achievable by monopolising
most of the national wealth and resources.

The report concludes

All the scenarios require varied and significant reductions in demand which can
only be achieved with a combination of technical efficiency measures and
behavioural change. Even scenario 1, which is nominally level demand,
represents a reduction in demand compared to current predictions of UK
energy demand.

In order to achieve the scale of change needed, industry will require strong
direction from government. Current market forces and fiscal incentives will not
be adequate to deliver the shareholder value in the short-term and to
guarantee the scale of investment necessary in this timescale.

The experience of engineers shows that implementing fundamental changes
to a system as large and complex as the UK’s energy system to meet the 2050
greenhouse gas emissions targets will bring with it many challenges for
government, business and industry, engineering and the public alike. Turning
the theoretical emissions reduction targets into reality will require more than
political will: it will require nothing short of the biggest peacetime programme
of change ever seen in the UK.

http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/publications/list/reports/Generating_the_future_report.pdf

 

[Dennis]

Drifting a bit off topic, I think absolutely massive savings could be obtained by completely bombing the tax / benefits system; think about the number of people and the costs associated with administering youre life; the money-go-round is completely farcical when you think about it - a department to administer each activity of a typical day....

get up have breakfast (VAT on some items)

drive to work (fuel duty, vehicle licence etc)

work (income tax, national insurance, corporate taxes, VAT reclaims)

pub lunch (duty on the beer)

etc, etc....

Oh, and I can then reclaim some of the money they've taken from me; family credit, child benefit, childcare allowance, scrap my old car, change my boiler, give money to charity (make sure you ask for gift aid).

I could go on forever!

This all costs vast sums of money to administer - cut that. Message to Dick Cleggeron and the Condems - stop faffing about with a couple of million on stations and the like and simplify the tax / benefits system. Please.

 

[WatcherZero]

Phew Victoria's roof might not be quite dead yet, Network Rail saying that their still willing to contribute £16m out of £21m previously pledged to the £30m Victoria improvements project after the Dft's cutting of the 10 worst stations improvements program but their partners Manchester City Council (£5m) and GMITA (£4m) will have to scrounge up another £5m to replace the stations fund funding or the project will have to be descoped.

Sadly theyve confirmed that the other 9 stations projects are dead.

 

[yorksrob]

Perhaps they'll just reglaze rather than rebuild.