HS2....who/what should we believe?....

[french frank]

the results in just small investments in local train services can be spectacular.
The resumption of an hourly service from a small station near me resulted in a doubling of passenger numbers in under two years.

Inprovements CAN happen if people lobby hard.

The reopening of suburban lines and stations is a worthwhile project, it seems to me without huge cost implications.

The Severn Beach line through Bristol has increased its service and is well used (and it takes bikes!).

[teamsaint]

The reopening of suburban lines and stations is a worthwhile project, it seems to me without huge cost implications.

The Severn Beach line through Bristol has increased its service and is well used (and it takes bikes!).

brilliant. I have heard good things about it.
The reopening of the Fawley link would cost peanuts. But probably kill off the ferry. sadmaritimefellowsmiley.

[french frank]

brilliant. I have heard good things about it.
The reopening of the Fawley link would cost peanuts. But probably kill off the ferry. sadmaritimefellowsmiley.

And, as I should have said, it goes direct to Temple Meads station. And from there ... the World!

[ahinton]

And, as I should have said, it goes direct to Temple Meads station. And from there ... the World!

How far is it from Bristol Temple Meads to the World, FF? - and where would one obtain the necessary visa?(!)...

[french frank]

How far is it from Bristol Temple Meads to the World, FF? - and where would one obtain the necessary visa?(!)...

Quite right to pull me up, Mr Hinton. I should have said to anywhere else in the World (though not necessarily without having to change a few times. It is best to obtain the necessary visas before departure, though for Istanbul you can obtain one at the border. It used to be slightly cheaper if you paid in pounds sterling than in euros.

[french frank]

This latest HS2 story was only posted this morning on the BBC site: already it has 1118 comments. People don't seem too impressed.

[Flosshilde]

I just wish the French would build it for us, in half the time and with less hysteria.

Sinced the French (& German) state railway companies own most of the UK's railway companies they might as well build the tracks too.

[ahinton]

Quite right to pull me up, Mr Hinton. I should have said to anywhere else in the World (though not necessarily without having to change a few times. It is best to obtain the necessary visas before departure, though for Istanbul you can obtain one at the border. It used to be slightly cheaper if you paid in pounds sterling than in euros.

I wasn't "pulling you up", FF - just joking!...

[eighthobstruction]

This latest HS2 story was only posted this morning on the BBC site: already it has 1118 comments. People don't seem too impressed.

....hardly surprisng due to change of mind ref Speed now not being important and claim it will come in on budget....

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I know the government is being pilloried for using HS2 as a vanity project, but although I despise this government, at least they have put some plans into motion. When Labour was in opposition in the Thatcher/Major years, they proposed a single high speed line from London to Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow. But once in government, they did nothing.

[teamsaint]

How far is it from Bristol Temple Meads to the World, FF? - and where would one obtain the necessary visa?(!)...

I drove past TM today, and easily accessed the world without a visa.
Mind you, I took a sneaky route through Brislington, so perhaps I missed some border controls.

Personally , I used to think that the world probably ended at Stapleton Road station....Whistlingsmileything......

[french frank]

I wasn't "pulling you up", FF - just joking!...

The problem is that we're both as poker-faced as each other when we're joking - I thought I was pulling your leg!

8thO's point is interesting. Suddenly all the talk of how much less time this or that journey would take has been transformed into the amount of money that will be earned - by 2037 - particularly in The NORTH rather than in The South, and the environmental benefits of taking so much heavy traffic off the roads.

[Serial_Apologist]

The problem is that we're both as poker-faced as each other when we're joking - I thought I was pulling your leg!

8thO's point is interesting. Suddenly all the talk of how much less time this or that journey would take has been transformed into the amount of money that will be earned - by 2037 - particularly in The NORTH rather than in The South, and the environmental benefits of taking so much heavy traffic off the roads.

Yes, the argument seems to have been switched to one of capacity, rather than of speed.

[eighthobstruction]

The problem is that we're both as poker-faced as each other when we're joking - I thought I was pulling your leg!

8thO's point is interesting. Suddenly all the talk of how much less time this or that journey would take has been transformed into the amount of money that will be earned - by 2037 - particularly in The NORTH rather than in The South, and the environmental benefits of taking so much heavy traffic off the roads.

Yes the roads will then be clogged with Fracking Rigs and Wind Pylons....coming up North to fill our desolation....

Come IN on budget????....not if it gets caught at the junction where the M32 meets Bond Street....By the way I've only just noticed this....http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24042446

[ahinton]

The problem is that we're both as poker-faced as each other when we're joking - I thought I was pulling your leg!

Ah, well - at least we now understand one another, as far as trains in and out of planet Bristol are concerned!

8thO's point is interesting. Suddenly all the talk of how much less time this or that journey would take has been transformed into the amount of money that will be earned - by 2037 - particularly in The NORTH rather than in The South, and the environmental benefits of taking so much heavy traffic off the roads.

Given that none of this project is likely to be in service for a good many yeas even if it's completed on schedule, road traffic congestion by that time will likely have increased so much that many people will find great difficulty in getting to train stations to catch these trains in any case. I don't even think that improving and developing the current rail infrastructure, vastly preferable though that would be, will have more than the slightest effect in terms of stemming the tide of road traffic congestion.