Shaping up for a Less British Railways rather that Great British Railways

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From a group source, talking about the loss of "The Waterloo"s ...

This is just the beginning. DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) (driven by the Treasury) is ready to decimate the railways. This is how the Government sees what some celebrated as "nationalisation". The three targets are: Fewer trains, fewer staff and higher fares. Also forget transport experts running trains - they're already warming up Serco, Capita and the rest.

Wait until the Integrated Rail Plan is released tomorrow - we may start to see the level of cuts coming. If not (nobody knows how clear things will be in the release) then I've just been told that the operators have been given their budgets for the next year and pretty much all of them have started to apply to remove more trains from May 2022 and December 2022 (timetable change dates) - this needs to be distributed more widely so make sure you pass it on. Big cuts are coming - followed by significant fare increases it is believed - the chancellor wants to slash support for rail and turn it into something only the wealthy can afford to use.

Scaremongering or true?   If true, could that be why Grant Shapps, Chris Heaton-Harris and their civil servants are throwing out loads of chaff to deflect our case?

[eightonedee]

The news media is being softened up for the announcement- see - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59320576

Does this mean covering the north in "love" to compensate for reneging on the Leeds branch of HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) at the expense of the West?

Edit to enable link - grahame

[Lee]

Well, at least the one thing you can't accuse them of is a cynical attempt to bury bad news by releasing the Integrated Rail Plan at the same time as the reopening of the Yellow Wall Line Dartmoor Line, which is 1 of the only 2 Restoring Your Railway proposals that have been granted anywhere near enough funding to complete, the other one being the Red Wall Line Northumberland Line.

The same kind of completely unfounded cynicism could doubtless be applied to longstanding rail reopening proposals such as - to pick one at random - one that begins in a constituency that the Conservatives have never been in danger of losing in recent memory, ends in a city where Conservative electoral popularity is clearly waning and is unlikely to bounce back anytime soon, and where on the rail reopening front, last minute hiccups, setbacks and delays appear to be popping up with uncanny regularity.

Were they to resort to such behaviour, I would imagine the cynics would have a field day.

[grahame]

Well, at least the one thing you can't accuse them of is a cynical attempt to bury bad news by releasing the Integrated Rail Plan at the same time as the reopening of the Yellow Wall Line Dartmoor Line, which is 1 of the only 2 Restoring Your Railway proposals that have been granted anywhere near enough funding to complete, the other one being the Red Wall Line Northumberland Line.

But these two are easy, with a re-opening of a railway that has or had freight or heritage traffic on it until recently. When was the last re-opening to a new station that involved putting track back onto a formation, or creating a new formation, in England?  Ordsall Curve and Todmordon Loop are recent(ish) cases I can think of but nothing so complex as a station.

[Red Squirrel]

Well, at least the one thing you can't accuse them of is a cynical attempt to bury bad news by releasing the Integrated Rail Plan at the same time as the reopening of the Yellow Wall Line Dartmoor Line, which is 1 of the only 2 Restoring Your Railway proposals that have been granted anywhere near enough funding to complete, the other one being the Red Wall Line Northumberland Line.

But these two are easy, with a re-opening of a railway that has or had freight or heritage traffic on it until recently. When was the last re-opening to a new station that involved putting track back onto a formation, or creating a new formation, in England?  Ordsall Curve and Todmordon Loop are recent(ish) cases I can think of but nothing so complex as a station.

Portishead should be easy too.

[Timmer]

Portishead should be easy too.

Exactly, and with an excellent return on the amount of people who would use it!

[Western Pathfinder]

Not so much easy but low hanging fruit !..

[eightonedee]

Oh dear - having read this- https://dft-newsroom.prgloo.com/news/integrated-rail-plan-biggest-ever-public-investment-in-britains-rail-network-will-deliver-faster-more-frequent-and-more-reliable-journeys-across-north-and-midlands, I think all the cynicism would be well-justifed.

Of course it would be naive to think that a truthful press release would have been issued - "Government takes fright at escalating cost of HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) and the bad press it is getting as a result of loud well-connected nimbys, so cuts it (and the proposed new Tans-Pennine Line) back, and announces a package of sub-optimal alternative measures, re-announces a number projects that have already been announced and re-starts Midland Main Line electrification in the hope it will mollify the newly-won "Red Wall" voters and the newly-elected Red Wall MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament). It judges that the Lib Dems are still so far behind in the opinion polls that projects in the South West and completion of GW^▸ (Great Western) electrification are left out entirely"

[broadgage]

A splendid victory for the NIMBYs. Newts, bats, badgers saved. And children also saved from the "rays" given of by the "mast things"

[TaplowGreen]

Yes, of course. It's all about NIMBYs 

[Bmblbzzz]

Borrowing a hat from my grammar nerd brother, that really annoying pedantic one, I think what we're talking about here is not less British railways – railways which are less British or more foreign – but fewer British railways.

I have now given my brother his hat and locked him in the cupboard where he belongs.

[CyclingSid]

In an ideal world (which will never happen), all major transport infrastructure projects leading to London should start construction at the end furthest from London. Would that increase the chances of survival, or mean large white elephants in strange parts of the country.

[Reading General]

In an ideal world London would have no more infrastructure projects facing it until the rest of the country has been improved. The majority of our railways and services favour London and this has created part of the imbalance and the reliance on cars elsewhere in the country.

[Wizard]

Could be quite a depressing future if service levels are to be cut so drastically. Especially with how busy trains currently are. COP was a waste of time.

[Rhydgaled]

Well, at least the one thing you can't accuse them of is a cynical attempt to bury bad news by releasing the Integrated Rail Plan at the same time as the reopening of the Yellow Wall Line Dartmoor Line, which is 1 of the only 2 Restoring Your Railway proposals that have been granted anywhere near enough funding to complete, the other one being the Red Wall Line Northumberland Line.

But these two are easy, with a re-opening of a railway that has or had freight or heritage traffic on it until recently. When was the last re-opening to a new station that involved putting track back onto a formation, or creating a new formation, in England?  Ordsall Curve and Todmordon Loop are recent(ish) cases I can think of but nothing so complex as a station.

Not reopenings, but, I think, entirely new lines - HS1^▸ (High Speed line 1 - St Pancras to Channel Tunnel)/CTRL^▸ (Channel Tunnel Rail Link), Northern Line (London Underground) Extension to Battersea Power Station and (not yet complete, but very much under construction) the London Overground line to Barking Riverside.