The Case Against High Speed Rail
The Transport Minister Philip Hammond has a proposal for a High Speed Rail Link from London to Birmingham to cut down journey times for business people to get from London to Birmingham and save 15 minutes on the journey. The only problem is - it cuts swathes through our beautiful countryside and through farmers land, houses, old cottages and divides communities on either side of it and sites of outstanding natural beauty will be gone forever.
This government seems to be a 'wreck everything' government and is trying it's best to denude our beautiful countryside for a profit motive.
For Philip Hammonds' attention - there is already a way of cutting journey time from London to Birmingham and that is by air.
The flight from London to Birmingham is 12 minutes. How long will the train take?
Philip Hammond only this week stated that:- "eye-wateringly expensive" rail fares had made our railway system a "rich man's toy".
Is this the way to go?
I think not.
What happened to cheap rail travel for the masses and the commuters? The taxpayers for the last several generations paid for this infrastructure and the running costs, but the government let private companies run the railways for their own profit not for the masses at reasonable cost.
Once they have churned up the countryside from London to Birmingham they will turn their attention to other destinations and again the flying time to them is far quicker and not at all disruptive to the rural community.
Examples of flying time between cities in the UK and London are:-
The flight time from London, to Manchester is: 20 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Edinburgh is: 40 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Liverpool is: 22 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Cardiff is: 16 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Dublin is: 35 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Glasgow is: 41 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Bath is: 12 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Leeds is: 20 minutes.
Why rip up our glorious English countryside for a great lumbering 'iron horse' that is not the fastest way around the UK? It will cost a fortune that we do not have and will alienate the rural communities from Lands End to John O'Groats.
This proposal wants to be defeated at the first opportunity, there is an e-petition set up for this, it needs 100,000 votes for it to be debated in parliament. It is on the Rant On UK! Forum..
This government seems to be a 'wreck everything' government and is trying it's best to denude our beautiful countryside for a profit motive.
For Philip Hammonds' attention - there is already a way of cutting journey time from London to Birmingham and that is by air.
The flight from London to Birmingham is 12 minutes. How long will the train take?
Philip Hammond only this week stated that:- "eye-wateringly expensive" rail fares had made our railway system a "rich man's toy".
Is this the way to go?
I think not.
What happened to cheap rail travel for the masses and the commuters? The taxpayers for the last several generations paid for this infrastructure and the running costs, but the government let private companies run the railways for their own profit not for the masses at reasonable cost.
Once they have churned up the countryside from London to Birmingham they will turn their attention to other destinations and again the flying time to them is far quicker and not at all disruptive to the rural community.
Examples of flying time between cities in the UK and London are:-
The flight time from London, to Manchester is: 20 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Edinburgh is: 40 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Liverpool is: 22 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Cardiff is: 16 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Dublin is: 35 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Glasgow is: 41 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Bath is: 12 minutes...
The flight time from London, to Leeds is: 20 minutes.
Why rip up our glorious English countryside for a great lumbering 'iron horse' that is not the fastest way around the UK? It will cost a fortune that we do not have and will alienate the rural communities from Lands End to John O'Groats.
This proposal wants to be defeated at the first opportunity, there is an e-petition set up for this, it needs 100,000 votes for it to be debated in parliament. It is on the Rant On UK! Forum..
