General Election 2010 and its implications for the railways (combined topic)

[whole diary]

[inspector_blakey]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) (click for full article):

The Liberal Democrats have set out plans to reopen thousands of miles of railway tracks and stations.

The scheme would be funded by cutting capital spending on roads by ^3bn.

Edit by Chris: Topic heading changed, in view of General Election now being confirmed.

[TheLastMinute]

And the interesting thing is that there is even a small chance it may happen should there be a hung parliament!

[Timmer]

Great plans but it's not going to happen is it. If there is a hung parliament I very much doubt that the Lib Dems will be using their transport policy as a bargaining chip in helping to form a government with either the Tories or Labour. It will be PR^▸ (Public Relations) so they stand a better chance of getting elected in future general elections.

[Electric train]

A bit of cloud coco land electioneering, its not always opening of long closed lines that's needed but completely new routes (I am not just talking HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services)) routes) reopening of stations may work in some places but why not stations in completely new locations.

One thing though this has put railways into the election, hopefully it will question the commitment of the two major parties

[Brucey]

I would be questioning where they are planning on getting the rolling stock from, without cutting back services on other lines.  ^3bn would probably only just fund laying track, building stations, red tape, etc.

[Bob_Blakey]

As is usual with policy announcements of this nature, the devil would be in the detail; on this morning's BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Radio 4 Today programme a transport 'expert' from Liverpool Polytechnic stated that new railway comes in at ^7m a mile plus an extra ^3m/mile if you want it electrified (I have no idea if these figures are correct) and on that basis the ^3bn would get you around 450 additional route miles rather than the 'thousands' mentioned in press releases/news items.
It would be very easy to waste the ^3bn on schemes that were not even vaguely cost-effective.
The announcement seems also to have copied the previously published Tory policy of making it far easier for local authorities to obtain funding for improving rail infrastructure.
Once the General Election is formally announced I wonder what the actual party transport policies will look like!

[caliwag]

Yes Bob, I heard that, but the rolling stock issue is far more pressing as we know. The "proposal"...at least 20 years old, for a new station at Haxby on the York to Scarborough line (effectively a York City Council dream to shrink commuting) has been re, re, re-estimated at over ^10m and 4 year build, and that for two, I guess, 6 car platforms, a footbridge, shelters and car parking...doubt if it'll even be staffed.
When I shared an office in Manchester with some of the consultants in 1999 they were finalising the CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) cable runs!...so that's incouraging I don't think. Eleven years on, the local York Press, when there's been no crack-heads stealing cable, dredge from the back-listing with great fanfare "Haxby station on track" and similar tripe...Lib dem council if you're curious! 

[moonrakerz]

Vote for me chaps !

I'll introduce free beer at the "point of demand" for everyone, as well - hic ! 

I thought Kennedy had been ousted ?

[signalandtelegraph]

from http://www.greenparty.org.uk/policies/transport.html

[The Green New Deal commits investment to a major expansion of public transport. We will:

^ Double the size of the bus fleet through an investment of ^3 billion to buy 30,000 new buses and create 70,000 jobs.
^ Provide a further ^2 billion to subsidise bus fares and get new services operational.
^ Bring the railway system back into public ownership and spend ^2 billion on new track and rolling stock, and on urban tram schemes - together creating 20,000 jobs.
^ Reduce UK^▸ (United Kingdom) rail fares by one third to bring them in line with the European average through a ^3 billion subsidy./quote]

Wonder where the 10 billion is coming from.. oh heres where

Here are just some ways the Green New Deal tackles the most pressing problems we face today:

^ A new architecture for the financial system so that it serves the ^real' economy, this includes breaking up the big banks so they are no longer ^too big to fail' and a massive clampdown on tax avoidance to generate ^10 billion in revenue.

 

and for proper policies http://www.loonyparty.com/index.php?page=manifestoproposals-1

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

new roads will still be built.... pot-holes just wont get filled!

[Btline]

Road developments do need to go ahead as well.

Ok, it may not be the most fashionable thing to say these days, but like it or not, we have millions of cars that will not go away and most people drive - fact. So as well as rail developments, to try and ease traffic, we also need certain strategic road developments, be it bypasses, motorway widening, etc; and air.

The Scottish gov have got it right. Build the new Glasgow to Edinburgh rail link, speed up the others AND build extensions to the M74 and M8.

I also think that London needs another runway. I just oppose the Heathrow Expansion due to the level of destruction of urban areas and because of the extra noise pollution across much of the city.

Oh, and the Lib Dems can say anything 'cos they'll never win, etc...

[grahame]

A bit of cloud coco land electioneering, its not always opening of long closed lines that's needed but completely new routes (I am not just talking HS^▸ (High Speed (short for HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) High Speed Services)) routes) reopening of stations may work in some places but why not stations in completely new locations.

I wonder how much fine talk - on all sides - will fall by the wayside after the election.

Starting with the most cost effective ... you could:

* Add trains on existing lines serving existing station which would benefit from increased services and have capacity

* Add stations on existing lines - not necessarily where stations happened to be 60 years ago

* Reopen routes that predominantly use existing earthworks

* Build a new route

Taking a medium term view (i.e. five to ten years - NOT electioneering), and of a public passenger transport system that was "middle of the road", you would be looking carefully in schemes in all categories, I suspect.

And paying for it? I look at the current system and I wonder "isn't there a less buraucratic way of doing it", and "isn't there a way of taking some of the financial peculiarities out of the system?"   Over the past few years, I've met with a number of very good staff in the various organisations that we need to work with in our own local area, and at times they can be as frustrated as those of us on what might be referred to as "the other side" asking for improvements.  In reallity, it turns out that we've mostly got similar goals - and "the other side" is very often the system itself.

Road developments do need to go ahead as well.

Ok, it may not be the most fashionable thing to say ...

It may not be fashionable, but it's right.  Most people don't just make a train journey - they connect onward by car, taxi, bus, cycle, tube, ferry ... at one end of their train journey at least;  I have been known to shock people in these parts by suggesting that a road be built in two or three specific places.

[moonrakerz]

[I have been known to shock people in these parts by suggesting that a road be built in two or three specific places.

.........like around Westbury ?? 

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

PM to announce 6 May general election

Gordon Brown will announce on Tuesday morning that the general election will, as expected, be held on 6 May, BBC political editor Nick Robinson says.
The prime minister will go to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament.
On returning from the Palace he will formally confirm the date and make a speech in Downing Street in which he will dub the election "the big choice".
The economy, taxation and public services will be key battlegrounds.
The campaign will also feature, for the first time, live television debates between the three main party leaders.
It will be the first time that Mr Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg have faced a general election.

[inspector_blakey]

How ironic. After jumping through all the hoops to arrange overseas proxy voting, I'll actually be in the country on 6 May. Although probably not in the relevant parliamentary constituency, I admit.