On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 22:23:04 +0100 someone who may be "Paul Scott"
wrote this:-

That should lead to a few questions about rail policy differences between
Scotland and England - is it the Alloa - Kincardine route that goes through
or near Brown's constituency?

The Stirling - Alloa - Kincardine line does not go particularly near
Mr Brown's constituency, or his former constituency. However, if EWS
can sort out the stupid tolling regime, which the Executive were
still talking of the last time I heard, then they will take their
coal trains away from the Forth Bridge, which is used by many people
in his constituency.



--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

Ian wrote:
On 27 Jun, 22:19, Mr Thant
wrote:
On Jun 27, 10:04 pm, "Adrian Auer-Hudson, MIMIS"

wrote:
My guess: We have an anouncement on Crossrail soon.
It already has the government's full support ...

... but not "support" in the sense of "financial backing". And if
there is one thing Mr Brown is good at, it's recognizing a monumental
waste of money when he sees one.

So all those extra civil servants are "good value for money"?

Hmm. Let's see. Electrify every main line in the UK, or build a tunnel
to make it slightly easier to commute from Maidenhead to Canary Wharf?
Tough call.

Ian



--
Moving things in still pictures!

On 28 Jun, 08:01, ®i©ardo wrote:
Why should the government revert to the outdated practice of consulting
Parliament? You'll probably find that there's been an "enabling order"
which means that that's the last thing they'll do.

Except it's what they are doing:
http://www.publications.parliament.u...05062.i-v.html

Perhaps you should let them know they don't have to.

U

--
http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/

On 27 Jun, 22:19, Mr Thant
wrote:
My guess: We have an anouncement on Crossrail soon.

It already has the government's full support - the current hurdle is
getting it through parliament, which isn't really something you can
announce. I don't think any progress can be made until there's been a
few months of consultation whatnot over the recent Woolwich changes.
The only thing Brown could announce is scrapping it.


Not quite. Getting it through parliament is not a problem - the bill
will pass, because there is no serious opposition to it (apart from
people who think that its only purpose is to speed commuting times
between Maidenhead and Canary Wharf - I suspect these are the same
people who thought Thameslink's purpose was to speed commuting times
between Streatham and St Albans).

However, as any fule kno, the stumbling block for the last few years
has been on where the money's coming from. If Gordon wants to gain
popularity and credibility with London voters and business leaders,
then an announcement on Crossrail financing - obviously conditional on
the passage of the bill - would be a good way to do so.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article .com,
(Mr Thant) wrote:
The Thameslink Programme, on the other hand...

It's waiting for CSR2007 later in the year (allegedly, at current
slippage rates it'll be 2008) for a funding decision. The planning
permissions have been obtained.

CSR2007? Since when was that bandied about? AFAIAA it's actually PR2008,
although there may have been a change I'm not aware of. The fate of TL
will be tied to the HLOS and SoFA which the Gov. is required to publish
by July 31, although the latest I've heard is that it's due before July
26 when they break up for recess.

As far as bad omens go, however, I wonder what will happen if our
Darling friend becomes Chancellor?

On Jun 28, 10:15 am, John B wrote:
On 27 Jun, 22:19, Mr Thant
wrote:
(apart from
people who think that its only purpose is to speed commuting times
between Maidenhead and Canary Wharf - I suspect these are the same
people who thought Thameslink's purpose was to speed commuting times
between Streatham and St Albans).

You mean to say that isn't what it is for. Oh hang they are joining up
the link into Heathrow, just to give a bit more justification. Also
amazing how Canary Wharf came into the picture otherwise it was dead
duck. You would have thought that had somebody decided to spend
billions developing a run down dock area into a large business area
that they would have given somethought about how to get people in and
out, and perhaps stumping up some cash.

Kevin

On 28 Jun, 11:41, Kev wrote:
(apart from
people who think that its only purpose is to speed commuting times
between Maidenhead and Canary Wharf - I suspect these are the same
people who thought Thameslink's purpose was to speed commuting times
between Streatham and St Albans).

You mean to say that isn't what it is for. Oh hang they are joining up
the link into Heathrow, just to give a bit more justification. Also
amazing how Canary Wharf came into the picture otherwise it was dead
duck. You would have thought that had somebody decided to spend
billions developing a run down dock area into a large business area
that they would have given somethought about how to get people in and
out, and perhaps stumping up some cash.

The point is that it relieves the pressure on all the central
Underground lines plus Liverpool Street and Paddington mainline
stations, plus the other transport links to Heathrow. It will buy
another 10 years of Central London's public transport network not
being unusably overcrowded (i.e. in 10 years' time when Crossrail
opens, the network will be left only as overcrowded as it is today,
rather than more so).

And Canary Wharf's developers stumped up cash for the DLR and the JLE,
and will most likely stump up cash for Crossrail as well (assuming the
private sector funding model is based on the award of development
rights, which is likely).

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org/blog

Let me rephrase that last question - what will happen now that our
Darling Chancellor has arrived?

On 28 Jun, 10:15, John B wrote:
However, as any fule kno, the stumbling block for the last few years
has been on where the money's coming from. If Gordon wants to gain
popularity and credibility with London voters and business leaders,
then an announcement on Crossrail financing - obviously conditional on
the passage of the bill - would be a good way to do so.

Maybe. But I'd think a funding commitment would be a risky idea
politically. It could easily look like throwing money at an
extravagant project with no real care, that will only benefit a few
Londoners and a few big city businesses etc etc. All of the
politically safe moves (funding development, introducing a bill) have
already been done.

I'm sure there will be a big song and dance when/if it does get
funding, but now doesn't seem like a good time to me.

U

--
http://londonconnections.blogspot.com

On 28 Jun, 00:50, David H wrote:
AIUI not through, or even very close to his constituency - but by taking the
coal trains for Kincardine Power Station away from the Forth Bridge it
should improve the performance of the passenger trains which do serve
Kirkcaldy.

Peter

Are EWS et al still threatening to boycott the Alloa Line? For those
not aware, NR appear to be charging a premium for access to the line
for freight operators even though it isn't exactly a highly desirable
alternative routing for them. It might make more sense to charge a
premium for the bridge route.

As for discrepancies in transport policy between Westminster and
Holyrood, what of it exactly? The PM has no authority to alter the
way the Scots parliament chooses to spend it's allocation of funds.
If it appears to observers south of the border that transport projects
are getting more backing in Scotland than in England, then less money
will have to be spent on something else in England, as it is in
Scotland, in order to fund the rail network expansion.

You get ought for nought, it's all give and take, quid pro quo etc.
The M8 is a motorway?? Where?!?

Quite. Perhaps more of England's money could be spent on English
projects, rather than being sent across the border to be spent on
Scottish projects. ;-)