\

AlisonW

search for topic 'transport' requested

HS2

2020-01-26 20:49:40 - by alisonw Transport HS2 Rail Regional

HS2 isn't about speed, indeed it's entirely the wrong name: It is about *long distance non stop* services on their own rails getting out of the way of slower stopping services.

And because of the removal of the fast services from existing lines a lot more regional trains can run!

Regarding trees and wildlife, a rail corridor is way narrower than a motorway one, and HS2 is routed to avoid the worst damage, as opposed to the substantial number of by-passes and trunk road improvements being undertaken at the moment which don't.

Improving train services will increase modal shift from road to rail, for passengers and for freight, and massively reduce NOx and CO emissions too, benefitting us all. The sooner it is completed the better.

ULEZ Expansion

2020-01-08 23:34:11 - by alisonw Transport London

For the zone 1 CC/ULEZ area I think things are fine; a flat rate makes sense as it's a comparatively small area.

The extension of the ULEZ next year though *as a flat rate* is, imho, a big mistake, firstly because existing residents don't have any choice in getting included, and secondly because it's such a large area that charging £12.50 for a few miles at the edge is very different to spending the day driving around continuously.

I'd therefore like to see the extension as a per-mile or per-hour charge, not an all-or-nothing.

On our way there

2016-01-27 21:45:42 - by alisonw Transport Rail

One of the fun things of flying intercontinental is being able to follow the position of the aircraft you are in over the ground below using a seat-back television

Now it seems that DB Bahn - the operator of the railways in Germany - is doing the same on some of their services!

Track separation

2014-03-12 16:26:16 - by AlisonW Transport Freight Planning Rail

The more discussions I read on London Reconnections and elsewhere about track access issues / costs, service frequencies, and metro/regional arguments, the more regularly I conclude that if you want mass transit (in London volumes) you cannot mix passenger services with freight, and ideally you shouldn't mix mass with regional. Track separation seems to be the only *realistic* way to get the service and passenger volumes required to actually happen.

The UK effectively let its nationalised railways suffer through lack of investment and advance planning. Former governments washed their hands of the problem to the extent of flogging it all off to multiple parties, effectively placing a restraint on joined-up thinking and planning.

London is a city like no other, in many ways, and is suffering greatly because of the lack of investment in both infrastructure and in the services which use those new expensive shiny metals.

Until there is a high-level realisation that yes, it will require money in large amounts because otherwise the cash-cow for the UK which London represents will just seize up, there won't be progress,

We need freight to get out of town; just like weight limits on roads railfreight needs to be kept to appropriate routes.

We need mass transit - commuting and leisure - to not be blocked by long-distance and regional services.

And we need long-distance and regional services to be able to run fast and not be blocked or delayed by those local and freight services.

If this happens in my lifetime I will be very surprised. Dammit.

In brief …