Well, I don’t have to tell you, what with rising fuel costs, road vehicle travel is horrendously expensive.
Subsequently, rail travel is undergoing a rennaisance, despite the delays, line closures, lack of carriage space and expensive fares, it’s popularity is increasing.
There’s been talk for several years of reinstating the cross country link between Oxford and Cambridge, at the very least, a link between Huntingdon/St Ives to Cambridge as a starter, a good bet, the track is/was in-situ and just needed to be upgraded.
Nice respose from the powers that be, despite all the local protests, we’ll rip up the existing track and construct miles of hideously ugly and expensive special concrete road bed called a guided roadway, so that buses can traverse this route, parallel to the A14, can’t they continue to travel the local roads then, are the drivers incapable of driving through the local villages, do they need a bit of concrete to steer them in the right direction, I doubt it, but a bit of a twitch and it will wreck the tyres, oh dear, we’ve not thought of that one have we.
I gather that this moronic project is costing us £100m, but using the railway with real trains that could run into Cambridge station, within walking distance of the City centre, and having the ability to carry on to further horizons would cost half as much, ie £50m notes.
Don’t laugh at this, apparently it’s the way forward with our transport system, end of story, look forward to our old routes being treated in a similar fashion, but talking about the money involved it’s not funny, but then, what do we know about transport economics, after all, we’re only the general public that know nowt.
By: mike currill - 24th June 2008 at 08:24
Of course Oxford having to be different means that, unlike everwhere else with bus lanes, the city has bus lanes that are only about 3″ wider than a bus. This means that a bus can’t overtake a cyclist and stay within the confines of the bus lane. Mind you the same roads have pavement 15-20′ wide which cyclists are not supposed to use. I wonder why the cyclists ride on the pavement? The answer to that should be blindingly obvious eve to our dememnted traffic management planners. There’s no way I would ride in the bus lane when there’s adequate space on the pavement for me and the pedestrians.
By: frankvw - 21st June 2008 at 20:28
😀 It actually means autonomous network of slow ways (Réseau autonome de voies lentes), and also connotes to the famous compositer, but I have to say your definition is pretty accurate !
By: Arabella-Cox - 21st June 2008 at 20:15
Is that RAVEL because they are no longer for TRAVEL:D
By: frankvw - 21st June 2008 at 16:24
Well, it gets better on the other side of the channel: many of out railways are being removed, and replaced with what they call “RAVEL”. Which is a path for “pedestrians and slow moving vehicles” (understand bicycles). The concept seems to be the following: we have to be green, and exercise is good for you, so: sit down in your car, drive 20 miles to the nearest ex railway, take your bike and drive a couple of miles, and back (or walk it), get back into your car, and drive the 20 miles home. Makes sense, doesn’t it ?
Apparently, nobody ever realised that you have sidewalks where you can go, and in rural areas, lots of small roads offer scenic walking and riding opportunities.
But of course, that means that, the railroad tracks having been taken out, a lot of heavy freight (wood, stones, gravel, .. ) will be put on trucks instead. Slowly destroying all roads, and adding to the congestion.
By: Pete Truman - 21st June 2008 at 13:01
Not too sure about either place, Australia can only be inhabited by Ray Mears and his various clones that adore Tony Bennett, and Kent only exists to act as a stacking area for lorries heading for the Channel Tunnel.
To top this, it’s just been announced on the news today that the ‘powers that be’ are going to construct new high speed rail links, presumably on the basis of the French TGV, alongside the existing rail links, ie WCML, ECML, etc etc.
Could be interesting when they get to the urban and city areas that these Victorian designed railway routes run through, the future of employment in this country obviously lies in tunnelling jobs, or maybe it will be high speed concrete guideways with jet propelled buses, wouldn’t fancy sitting on the upstairs front seat of a modified Routemaster though.
By: J Boyle - 21st June 2008 at 04:58
Why don’t you just immigrate to the land of milk and honey??
Kent?
By: steve rowell - 21st June 2008 at 03:05
Why don’t you just immigrate to the land of milk and honey??
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June 20, 2008 at 4:48 pm