On Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:12:10 +0000
Paul Corfield wrote:
to the market to get a better value deal. I'm sure you would support a
more affordable solution rather than continuing with one which was
considered to be poor value for money.

I would if I didn't suspect it'll end up costing a lot more in the long run
trying to maintain umpteen different systems. What happens in 20 years time
when experts are needed for all of them and probably half the companies who
developed them have gone bust or been taken over and the new owners have
little incentive to spend money developing upgrades? At least with just one
system you could mitigate against that by creating your own in house team
but with 3 or 4? Unlikely.

applies to railways. It is perhaps why the EU have tried to push for
ERTMS which, in theory, offers a single system that is compatible
across borders and which can be supplied by a range of suppliers
without the "lock in" risk. Hasn't quite turned out like that though!!

Someone should have told them it involved non standard bananas. They'd have
had it all sorted in no time.

B2003