AdrianR Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Re: Candidate blasts Government over rail investment plans by John Hendon WARRINGTON South Prospective Parliamentary candidate Jo Crotty has branded the Government's investment plans for rail travel in Britain as ?totally inadequate.? The Liberal Democrat election hopeful backed her party?s plans to double the amount the Government intends to contribute, which would see a possible ?20 billion investment. Dr Crotty's comments come after North West MP and Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson John Leech slammed the Government for under funding rail transport in Britain during a Parliamentary debate on Network Rail. The Lib Dems would more than double the Government's ?10 billion investment, paid for through a climate change charge on internal flights and the introduction of road user charges on heavy goods vehicles. Dr Crotty said: "It is time we invested the funds in our rail system to make it the transport of choice for the public. "We can only do this by making it fast, reliable, comfortable, and affordable. The benefits to this investment are extremely important. Congestion will be eased as cars are left at home, carbon emissions from vehicles will drop, and the stresses associated with over-crowded motorways would be reduced. "Only the Liberal Democrats are serious about making the tough decisions to fix our nation's rail system. We're the only party willing to back up words with the investment that is needed." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And what is this prospective candidate doing. Indeed what do our rulling local liberals think about the current mess we have in Warrington. Bank Quay is supposed to be gettign aface lift - been waitign for over a year. Central has had a train indicator board that has been under test for 9 months and only just started working. In adidtion EMT took over the franchise from Central Traisn and have cut the capcity in half over night leaving people left on stations. I dont see Ms Crottys colleagues doing anything to supprot local rail users. WBC seems to limit is transport policy to adding as many lights as possible to roads and busses. Sorry had a bad commute last few days and "talk" like this is just a complete waste of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Originally posted by Adrian: Re: The Lib Dems would more than double the Government's ?10 billion investment...., paid for through a climate change charge on internal flights and the introduction of road user charges on heavy goods vehicles.. Congestion will be eased as cars are left at home, carbon emissions from vehicles will drop, and the stresses associated with over-crowded motorways would be reduced marvelous, and who pays then internal flight charges...passed on to consumers..ie us. HGV charges...passed on to consumers ie...us "Cars will be left at home"...mine won't !! when will these idiots realise that car users dont go on daytrips anymore, we go to work via the only viable means of transport !! even if it were cheaper (which its not nor will it ever be), I still coundnt afford the 4 hours via public transport to get to a non main rail route town and back, opposed to the 20 mins each way of my car. [ 30.01.2008, 14:01: Message edited by: legion ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 We should have had a fully integrated station somewhere around Bewsey where the two sets of lines cross. It could be built with virtually no disruption and would have been a massive improvement on the two we have now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sankey stationmaster Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 Nice to see the Bank Quay booking office/forecourt work now underway. Improving the station entrance should make a big impact to peoples' perceptions. It will have to be good. Warrington - London non-stop, journey time around 2hr or 2hr 10m come January 2009!! EMT aren't worse than Central, IMO. Central: - often turned late runners round at Warrington Central or M/cr Piccadilly, meaning the full journey never ran - ran trains *too long* which meant it had to miss out stations because the train was too long to open on short platforms - Sundays, none of the staff turned up for work, so you got managers running skeletal/non-existant services - reservations, you would have a booked seat in Coach A/B/C, and when the train turned up there would be two Coach A's and C's, but no Coach B. EMT, run the service more punctually, more reliably. - free first class upgrades if you get an SWT-type 158 (rare but better quality than ever before, a sign of improvements to come) - units are short formed (most are now 2-car 158's vs. Central's 3-car 170's), this is because EMT/Nottingham Depot got shafted with the rubbish/least well-maintained units when Central was split into West Midlands (aka London Midland - got the quality units) and EMT, which got the messy knackered leftovers. They are hoping to upgrade (long-term) the Liverpool - Nottingham - Norwich route into a higher quality (intercity) rather than regional express service. However, EMT currently operate what the DafT (Department for Transport) / HM Government specify. Logic and common sense pointed towards an integrated bus/train interchange around Bewsey/Warrington Hospital site, but its distance from the town centre negates the benefits. The other option would be to link the CLC route and WCML by a curve which once existed in the Froghall Lane/Eustace St/Bewsey Road area. **Apologies for the duplicate postings below** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianR Posted May 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2008 Sorry disagree. EMT have submitted a document to the DFT (i have a copy) and then intend to take 1 158 out of comission in December to run a new Nottingham - Leeds service. They have asked for 3 further 158's to aleviate the overcrowding. Howeveer they admit that this is unlikley until 2009/10 and currently no such stock is available NATIONWIDE! No plans within liffetime of franchise (7 years) to replace any stock. They want to refurb the 158's and thats it. With projected overcrowinding reaching 200% by 2011 then thats not enough. Central at least had a bigger pool to source and after years of complaints had got it together in the end. Never experienced fights on a station with Central but this has happned with EMT. Police have had to be called to Man OX Road in view of overcrowding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted May 7, 2008 Report Share Posted May 7, 2008 Transport is an essential feature of a modern economy, therefore "public" transport should be free (certainly cheaper) at the point of use. However, rather than the taxpayer throwing money at private firms so that sharholders can skim off the top, such essential systems need to be nationalised. Having said that; the need to travel needs to be reduced too - localisation of food and other production close to the point of consumption would reduce the current obscene amounts of food milage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted May 7, 2008 Report Share Posted May 7, 2008 Thats a good point, Mz Cotty refers to it as "our" rail service...well its not, and I dont see why we (I as a taxpayer) should pay ?20billion for a transport system I don't use, paid to private firms to give huge bonuses to their CEOs for more failures. re-nationalize it, have the profits reinvested into the rail service and thats a diffrent matter. I wrote to the government advocating the use of technology to reduce carbon emmisions without cost to the populous, but common sense is never a favoured plan of politicians. most of the office workers of this country, travel to work every day, to sit at a computer and a phone...just like the ones they have in their house, where they could still look after their kids. internet, virutal private networks and home working is the solution to all CO2 and traffic problems...give free highspeed internet accross the country, let the companies set up the VPNs for their needs and the roads will clear overnight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted May 7, 2008 Report Share Posted May 7, 2008 Carefull Legion, that sounds like common sense! Travel reduction initiatives are a way forward, not particularly cos they'll save the planet, but because they save congestion. The future could see more folk working from home, whilst being with their kids; using PCs etc. However, that one hasn't been thought through in the UK, as broadband is now so congested (using telephone lines), that it's slowing down. Meanwhile, the French have put in a totally seperate fibre optic cable system to every houshold for this purpose (which reminds me; didn't NTL do something similar here at one time, for TV?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted May 7, 2008 Report Share Posted May 7, 2008 I'd love to be able to do my job from home but I think the technology is a bit of a way away yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted May 7, 2008 Report Share Posted May 7, 2008 You'll have to settle with playing in the bath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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