The Anonymous Widower

I’m All For More Of This!

This article from Global Rail News is entitled Toronto park plan for downtown railway.

The article describes how Toronto wants to purchase the air rights over a 21-acre railway through the City Centre and put a park on the top.

There are certainly places in the UK, where this approach can be used to create parts, housing or commercial buildings over the railway.

Especially in Londom, where land is so expensive.

Look at this Google Map of the rail lines into Liverpool Street as they pass Shoreditch High Street station on the East London Line.

Lines Through Shoreditch

Lines Through Shoreditch

Surely, a better use could be found for the space above this railway. I estimate this space must be about ten hectares and if properly developed could contain lots of buildings and a green walkway connecting Shoreditch High Street station to Liverpool Street station.

And what about the waste of space that is Euston station?

Euston Station And The Approach Lines

Euston Station And The Approach Lines

Hopefully adding HS2 to the station will improve things.

August 5, 2016 Posted by | Transport/Travel, World | , , , , | Leave a comment

The Bank That Keeps On Losing

This article on the BBC is entitled RBS blames legacy issues for £2bn loss.

This is the first paragraph.

Royal Bank of Scotland has reported a £2bn loss for the first six months of the year, which the chief executive blamed on “legacy issues”.

The only legacy issue that matters, is that Gordon Brown was stupid enough to rescue it with £45.5billion of the UK’s money, instead of let it go bust.

But then it was all about Scottish votes, as was the two aircraft carriers, that may not be what the navy needs in this increasingly dangerous world of terrorists and rogue states.

Thank you, Gordon!

How can I claim my share back, like I did with PPI?

August 5, 2016 Posted by | Business, Finance | , | 2 Comments

Is This A Significant Move In The Rolling Stock Market?

This article in the Railway Gazette is entitled Bombardier-Hitachi joint venture to bid for New Tube for London.

I think it makes sense for several reasons.

  • The New Tube for London order is massive in that it will re-equip the some of the deep-level tube lines with state-of-the-art, air-conditioned and automated trains.
  • Bombardier have lots of experience with dealing with Transport for London, in recent years.
  • Hitachi haven’t built a complete train for London.
  • Both companies have large factories in the UK.
  • Over the next few years, if speculation is confirmed, Bombardier will be building a lot of Aventras for East Anglia, the Midland Main Line and Merseyside.
  • Hitachi will also be building a lot of Class 800/801 trains.
  • Hitachi have said, that both factories would produce the trains.
  • Financially, a joint bid is probably better.
  • As we are now in a post-Brexit world, accepting a bid from a European company would not be a good idea.

But I also feel that this could be a strategic partnership, where there is a good mix of experience, that combined with the UK’s undoubted skills in providing reliable and modern underground railways, could open up a world-wide market in the future, as other cities and regions in the world look to improve transportation in cities crowded with traffic.

I will finish this post with a little bit of speculation about what the New Tube for London will be like.

  • Walk-through like the S-Stock built by Bombardier.
  • More headroom for tall standees.
  • Air-conditioning and other passenger comforts.
  • Level access to all platforms.
  • Wi-fi and mobile phone signals.
  • USB ports in arm-rests.
  • Lots of passenger information.
  • Novel features, designed with the future in mind.
  • Automated, at least to the standard of the Victoria Line.
  • I doubt they will be driver-less like the Docklands Light Railway.
  • A limited battery capability to get trains to the next station on power failure and allow depots to have less electrification for safety.

As these trains will still be in service past 2050, I think that we’ll see the best designers wanting to be associated with this project and the New Tube for London will benefit.

Eventually identical trains will be running on all lines, although some lines might have extra cars inserted.

August 5, 2016 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , | Leave a comment