Who needs High Speed 2?

[Belmont Road]

Dont give up the forum 48111 !! We need you your comments they are very valued.

While you were with BR it was constantly changing surely mate?

However, Railways cant stay in a time warp if they are to survive. I have just come back from Switzerland - went by Rail from St Pancras, made a mistake by changing at Paris - terrible out of date and dirty metro system - should have gone via Lille, but HS1 and TGV excellent far better than flying any time and almost as quick.

Take a look a Switzerland for a future for rail - massive investment they are building a base tunnel through the Alps to replace the Gotthard Tunnel it will result in huge time savings and will take tens of thousands of trucks of the roads with a high speed freight service.

Adapt, change or die I am afraid thats the message and it always will be

[pre65]

Originally Posted by Belmont Road

Adapt, change or die I am afraid thats the message and it always will be

And always has been.

[Mendipman319]

I agree with some things 48111 says why cant britain be like germany or better fast trains which are comfortable! I dont go on the train to my fathers house in cornwall from taunton on the train becuase it takes over 3 hours and it is so uncomfortable! I have traveled in first class and my vauxhall corsa has better seats (no i didnt pay extra). I think trains can stay at the speed they go now but comfort is needed on the longer distance trains.

[Freightrider]

In addition to HS2 I understand that a major scheme to remodel the Norton Bridge junction of the WCML to create a new twin track to bypass Stafford is being considered for completion in 2014 to speed things up further. Just where is all of the money coming from?

Has anyone else heard about this new line?

[John H-T]

Originally Posted by 48111

Well I honestly beleive that I am getting too old for this forum, a lot of discussions are centred on the modern railway and I will be the first to admit I know very little about this private lot and dont really want to.

Time to think about things I think.

48111

Keep posting Peter we need to keep the balance on the Forum and your posts are a valuable part of that balance.

Best wishes,

John H-T.

[lesleyholly]

Originally Posted by Shimbleshanks

I make that an average of about 117mph - was it a special test run with dispensation to run up to 140mph?

check the timetables

[62440]

Checking with the National Rail Journey Planner, the fastest Kings Cross-Doncaster seems to be the 18:00 hrs departure, that takes 88 minutes, I make that 106.363mph. I have checked from first train in the morning to last train at night, also Saturday and Sunday, and also the opposite direction where the fastest seems to take 100 minutes. Which time table should I be looking at to find the 80 minutes schedule?

Regards, 62440.

Regards,

[John H-T]

Originally Posted by klordger1900

Look what happened in the recent down-turn - lots of plans to expand Stansted Airport and Heathrow all put in the bin because the forecast demand just melted away. Business needs to travel around the globe disappeared and meetings took place over the internet with things like webinars. Maybe more meetings will happen this way so why travel by air or rail when you've got the internet.

A lot of meetings do take place via the Internet but I believe that it is still necessary to meet face to face and talk to real people in buisiness, government and socially.

It is great to talk with everyone on this Forum. It is even better when we have the opportunity to meet face to face. I would hate to think that the world will degenerate into people sitting in front of screens all the time instead of getting out and meeting each other. Humans are social animals and are best when they communicate face to face and can pick up emotions not just words!

As for HST2 I have always said on this Forum that I believe that it is essential to the future of this country as a transport system. When I travel I want to get there quickly and in comfort and spend time doing what I want/need to do and then get home. I prefer train travel to flying especially to avoid the hours wasted waiting in airports!

Best wishes,

John H-T.

[klordger1900]

Some of us are not that sociable and/or cannot afford to travel in the first place.
Business men and government officials seem to have bottomless pockets when it comes to travel expenses even now when times are lean. But I agree that high speed travel is necessary and can often replace unsafe systems which cannot cope with the huge demands place on it.

[lesleyholly]

Originally Posted by Mendipman319

I agree with some things 48111 says why cant britain be like germany or better fast trains which are comfortable! I dont go on the train to my fathers house in cornwall from taunton on the train becuase it takes over 3 hours and it is so uncomfortable! I have traveled in first class and my vauxhall corsa has better seats (no i didnt pay extra). I think trains can stay at the speed they go now but comfort is needed on the longer distance trains.

weres the comport in a corsa tin with cusions in