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Robin9 · January 4th 14, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by

On Wed, 01 Jan 2014 13:41:38 -0800
Aurora wrote:
On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 19:18:18 +0000 (UTC), d
wrote:

On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 17:24:25 +0000
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:04:08 on
Wed, 1 Jan 2014, Aurora remarked:

HMG in the UK is funding the largest program of rolling
electrification to date. This may be the biggest rail investment
since the 1950s modernization.

More than the £9bn on the WCML upgrade or £15bn on Crossrail?

Investment funding across the network for the next 5 years, which
includes money to complete Crossrail and Thameslink, comes to £9bn

Which will be small change compared to the costs of HS2 if it goes ahead.

That money could do so much good if spent elsewhere on the UK network.
The Welwyn bottleneck would be a good start.

If the government had been honest and said simply that the west coast main
line has reached capacity and a new parallel line is needed I suspect most
people would be for HS2 or some version of it. But selling it as a way just to
shave 15 mins off a trip to brum was moronic and quite rightly people said it
would be a waste of money.

I wonder if it would be possible to increase the loading gauge on the WCML
to allow double deck trains and increase capacity that way? Would be bloody
expensive but perhaps not quite HS2 expensive.

--
Spud

Wouldn't it be cheaper to have longer trains? Before privatisation, trains on all
main routes, not just WCML, were longer than they are now. As one who
travelled frequently by train in the '60s, '70s and '80s, I am always struck by
how short today's trains are. I am not at all surprised that there is
overcrowding at peak times.