How Not To Plan A High Speed Railway
The farce that is Fyra might have got a bit better as there are now going to be some extra Thalys trains on the line soon, as is reported here.
But this will only partially compensate for the loss of the Fyra V250 trains and capacity will be nowhere near that needed.
It will also do nothing to get round one of the major design faults of the line; the lack of a branch to the Dutch capital, The Hague. A city incidentally, which doesn’t have an airport well-connected to the city centre, unless you count Schipol.
In some ways the design of the line, would be like the UK, creating a high speed line to Scotland, that bypassed Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
The Dutch also have a problem in that their tracks aren’t to the European standard of trains on the left, electrified to 25,000 volts AC, so it makes it difficult for high speed trains to run on secondary lines, as they do in most other European countries, The suburban Class 395 run in rural Kent and on HS1. Like the Thalys, they have a multi-voltage capability.
Another problem is that there aren’t enough Thalys trains and you can’t just rustle up some new ones quickly. In fact I suspect there is a large shortage of rolling stock across Europe and I suppose the real problem, is that because every country seems to work to different standards and local politics, manufacturers rely too much on living on the scraps politicians give them. So say if we need say some extra stock on the East Coast Main Line, we can’t generally borrow from the Germans. Saying that though, but for a few years Regional Eurostar trains did run to Leeds. But then that train was designed to run in the UK, France and Belgium.
We also complain in this country about orders for trains going to foreign manufacturers, but this is a Europe wide problem.
What we need is standards for railways that apply across most of Europe. When you have travelled on trains as much as I have you realise what a disconnected design it all is.
London’s Hydrogen Buses
London has a few hydrogen-powered buses that run on route RV1 from Tower Gateway to Covent Garden via the South Bank of the Thanes.
I used this route to get back to North of the Thames, so I could get home, after visiting the Tate Modern.
There’s more about the technology between these hydrogen buses here. The buses would appear to be powered by fuel cells from Canadian company, Ballard, running on a Volvo chassis with a body by Wrightbus from Northern Ireland. There’s a lot of independent hybrid vigour there to go with the conservative bit from Volvo.
Underneath East London
This article about Crossrail is worth reading.
I think the article fits the pattern where Crossrail are doing their utmost to be good neighbours.
After all, bad publicity or even protests in the middle of a projectr, is the easiest way to make it late.
Do We Rely On Cars Too Much?
This story from Birmingham shows the problems you get when you close a major route through a city centre so important maintenance can be carried out.
Birmingham to me, is one of the least pedestrian friendly cities in the UK and it seems to an outsider that everything has been given over to the car. On my last visit for example, I found no walking maps at all. I also went to St. Andrews to see Ipswich play Birmingham City last year and walking to the ground was a dangerous experience.
But then nothing must detract from the experience of driving!
Children Should Go Free On The Buses
This story from the BBC says that the Liberal Democrats want all children to go free on the buses.
Not having been a child for many years and having no contact with any now, I thought that as in London, all children do go free.
But they don’t!
I think it will be a good idea, especially as reports in London recently have shown that this policy has cut the number of children getting injured on the roads.
It is interesting that the BBC illustrates their story with one of the Hackney Eight.
The Queues In The Underground At Kings Cross St. Pancras
I came through Kings Cross St. Pancras Underground station on Friday afternoon and the queues at the ticket office, were enormous, as they often are at that time of the week.
The Queues In The Underground At Kings Cross St. Pancras
I suppose one problem is that many people off the Eurostar from Paris or Brussels don’t have any British money or an Oyster card. But as this page says, you can buy Oyster cards on Eurostar.
Kings Cross Station
I took this picture of Kings Cross station from the balcony in front of St. Pancras station.
Kings Cross Station
It’s all coming together, with the new square, which should make Kings Cross into one of the best stations in the world.
The BBC’s Gloomy Reporting
Despite the good news of the near £10 billion boost the Olympics gave the UK, BBC London is leading with two negative stories.
In one they are saying local business in London are moaning about loss of business because of the games.
And in the other, we have the residents of Surrey complaining that they have more road closures this weekend because of another cycling event. I suppose that it does make it difficult to drive the 4×4. I did hear once that you need a degree in moaning to live in Surrey.
Of course for balance the BBC is also reporting that too much of the Olympic benefit came to London.
In some ways the best legacy from the Olympics in this weather, are the new air-conditioned Class 378 trains on the London Overground and the S Stock on the sub-surface lines of the London Underground. It can also be said, that the place which has benefited most from these trains, is Derby, where they were built or are still being built in the case of the S Stock. It can also be argued that these trains would have been ordered anyway. The value of the orders is approaching two billion pounds.
Cissé’s Stand On Wonga
Papiss Cissé is adamant he won’t wear a Wonga-branded shirt, as reported here in the Guardian.
I support his stand.
I would like to see a law, where all loan companies from the banks, through peer-to-peer lenders to the legal loan sharks, have to publish the amount of money they lend in various parts of the country.
That way we could see if shirt sponsorship was a good idea for lenders.
You Can’t Miss Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
I went to Portsmouth yesterday to look at the Historic Dockyard and in particular to see the Mary Rose.
I took the train from Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour station and when you walk out of the station, you can’t exactly miss the dockyard.
You Can’t Miss Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
The ship is HMS Warrior.
I do have a couple of issues with South West Trains though.
I travelled First Glass and on trains like Virgin, East Coast and Greater Anglia, you get complimentary drinks. But not on South West Trains.
The Class 444 trains, seem to have an absence of litter bins in First Class. Perhaps First Class passengers throw everything on the floor.
The station also seems to have a lack of any sort of map. Not that I needed one, as I could see my destination from the station entrance.
The Anonymous Widower 