In message , writes
On Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:53:08 +0100
Paul Corfield wrote:
Only in Belgium could they spend a fortune on tunnels and then not use
them.

Oh they've done better than that - in Charleroi they built an entire
extension to their pre-metro - station and tracks - and never used it!
A monument to the hubris of local government IMO.

I was about to mention Charleroi. A perfect example of the original
point. It's the equivalent of having something on the scale of the
Tyne & Wear Metro inserted into somewhere like Reading.

It was largely built, as Boltar says, for political reasons. The
Flemish North had a light metro (as the Walloons saw it, anyway) in
Antwerp, so the Walloon South had to have something the same.

It's a long trine since I've been but the **vastly** over engineered and
little used infrastructure was incredible. (Mind you, Gent built an
extension for a proposed housing area that never materialised and which
terminated in a no-mans-land beneath a motorway for years. I
understand that it's been abandoned now.)
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Ian Jelf wrote:

I was about to mention Charleroi. A perfect example of the original
point. It's the equivalent of having something on the scale of the
Tyne & Wear Metro inserted into somewhere like Reading.

It was largely built, as Boltar says, for political reasons. The
Flemish North had a light metro (as the Walloons saw it, anyway) in
Antwerp, so the Walloon South had to have something the same.

It's a long trine since I've been but the **vastly** over engineered
and little used infrastructure was incredible. (Mind you, Gent
built an extension for a proposed housing area that never
materialised and which terminated in a no-mans-land beneath a
motorway for years. I understand that it's been abandoned now.)

Closer to home, Sheffield's tram network has a branch to serve a high-rise
housing estate which was demolished while the tramway was under
construction.
Speaking of underused infrastructure in Sheffield, what happened here?
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...06866&t=k&z=18

And of course, even closer to home we have the Finsbury Park to Highgate
line, electrified but never served by an electric passenger train.

On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:29:36 +0100
"John Rowland" wrote:
Closer to home, Sheffield's tram network has a branch to serve a high-rise
housing estate which was demolished while the tramway was under
construction.
Speaking of underused infrastructure in Sheffield, what happened here?

I bet thats a boy racers paradise at night.

B2003

On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 11:48:28AM +0000, wrote:
On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:29:36 +0100
"John Rowland" wrote:
Closer to home, Sheffield's tram network has a branch to serve a high-rise
housing estate which was demolished while the tramway was under
construction.
Speaking of underused infrastructure in Sheffield, what happened here?
I bet thats a boy racers paradise at night.

If you look carefully the pointless roads have some *very* stout
barriers across them.

--
David Cantrell | Reality Engineer, Ministry of Information

23.5 degrees of axial tilt is the reason for the season

David Cantrell wrote:
On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 11:48:28AM +0000,
wrote:
On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:29:36 +0100
"John Rowland" wrote:
Closer to home, Sheffield's tram network has a branch to serve a
high-rise housing estate which was demolished while the tramway was
under construction.
Speaking of underused infrastructure in Sheffield, what happened
here?
I bet thats a boy racers paradise at night.

If you look carefully the pointless roads have some *very* stout
barriers across them.

This one doesn't.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...87896490338057

The others wouldn't stop a motorcycle anyway. Maybe it was supposed to be a
test circuit for learner drivers, like this
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...,0.002414&z=19

John Rowland wrote:
The others wouldn't stop a motorcycle anyway. Maybe it was supposed to be a
test circuit for learner drivers, like this
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&...,0.002414&z=19

Looks like someone demolished:
http://www.multimap.com/s/R389ihKE
these houses:
http://www.multimap.com/s/vYMM109y

Looking at the random ones that survived for a while, perhaps some people
were a bit more obstinate than others.

Seems to be a less than desirable part of the world:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...9520-18971926/

Ah... looks like they've been demolished to 'balance supply and demand':
http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-cit...g-supplydemand
(list in Appendix A)

Theo

On 29 Apr, 10:42, Ian Jelf wrote:
It's a long trine since I've been but the **vastly** over engineered and
little used infrastructure was incredible.

In Manchester, as part of the 2002 Commonwealth games site, they built
several major tram underpasses but didn't bother building the tram
line to go with them, which has onyl just now got proper funding:
http://tinyurl.com/d74bss

On another unbuilt branch, there's also this enormous, speculatively
built elevated station:
http://www.gifford.uk.com/ProjectProfiles.asp?id=28

And a little way along the line, an elaborate finback bridge what I
can't find a picture of. Again, the branch itself has only just been
authorised.

(and of course there's the Thameslink ECML tunnels, which will sit
empty for at least 10 years. And Stratford International, which will
potentially never handle international passengers)

U

On Wed, 29 Apr 2009, Mr Thant wrote:

On 29 Apr, 10:42, Ian Jelf wrote:
It's a long trine since I've been but the **vastly** over engineered and
little used infrastructure was incredible.

In Manchester, as part of the 2002 Commonwealth games site, they built
several major tram underpasses but didn't bother building the tram
line to go with them, which has onyl just now got proper funding:
http://tinyurl.com/d74bss

That looks like a brilliant cycling route!

tom

--
Indeed, as rarely as remix albums work out for the best, this record
bottoms out on par with Weezer tribute albums, deployed WMDs and birth
defects. -- Nick Sylvester, on 'Daft Club'

On Apr 29, 11:31*am, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 29 Apr, 10:42, Ian Jelf wrote:

It's a long trine since I've been but the **vastly** over engineered and
little used infrastructure was incredible.

In Manchester, as part of the 2002 Commonwealth games site, they built
several major tram underpasses but didn't bother building the tram
line to go with them, which has onyl just now got proper funding:http://tinyurl.com/d74bss

On another unbuilt branch, there's also this enormous, speculatively
built elevated station:http://www.gifford.uk.com/ProjectProfiles.asp?id=28

And a little way along the line, an elaborate finback bridge what I
can't find a picture of. Again, the branch itself has only just been
authorised.

(and of course there's the Thameslink ECML tunnels, which will sit
empty for at least 10 years. And Stratford International, which will
potentially never handle international passengers)

U

Down my way there's the platform extensions "for Networker" since
about 1993 that will never be used for twelve-coach trains, but
unfortunately have been signalled so that it's the end of the platform
near the entrance, with the benches and PIS, that never gets used,
while trains rush to the far end.

In message
, Mr
Thant writes
And Stratford International, which will
potentially never handle international passengers)
Apart from when the Olympics are staged.
--
Clive