Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 08:31:25 on Mon, 25 Apr
2011, d remarked:
As for the viaduct - I presume it had to be replaced anyway so what
difference does that make?

Because it's not clear whether the cost of replacing it was included in
the rail-reopening quotes.

Er, yes it is:
http://www.castiron.org.uk/Stage1Bdetail.php

Unless you can some to terms with that, you'll never understand why
reopening as a railway would have been very costly.

I'd be interested to see some figures rather than vague hand waving.

Start here for CAST.IRON's costings:
http://www.castiron.org.uk/VisionDoc.php
(there's a PDF document around with more detail, but I can't find a link to
it ATM)

Feel free to take those apart. The CHUMMS report (government study with
rail costings by Atkins) is he
http://www.eera.gov.uk/publications-...i-modal-study/

I've posted some, above; as for costings, it's very important to compare
like with like - hence the difficulty with knowing whether the new
viaduct is included, what sort of new level crossings (one on a very
busy road) were proposed, and so on.

See the description of Stage 1B above, which describes the types of
crossings installed.

That could easily be accomodated with a railway by having single track
with double track at stations.

That's a novel idea - do you know anywhere there's a railway and nature
trail squeezed onto an old railway track, with sufficient crossings that
people can access the trail from both sides of course.

Avon Valley Railway is one (cycle track not nature trail):
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/news/Ste...l/article.html
I don't know any local details so can't say how many crossings there are.

And 2 busway tracks takes up a shed load more room than even a double
railway line.

Actually not, that's the point - it fits in the same space. Or do you
have some mythical trains that are narrower than a bus, so they can
squeeze through a smaller gap?

Except when it doesn't. For example, Trumpington cutting was a double track
railway in 1951 (to Bedford), but is now single track busway plus
maintenance track.

Theo