As I write, the current local ‘low’ price for petrol is around 134.9p per litre or £6.14 per gallon, meaning £61.40 to fill a 10-gallon tank. Perhaps this is one reason why train travel is booming, but there are probably others. Over the past decade, rolling stock has improved dramatically in large parts of the country. Gone are the slam-door trains and it was particularly pleasing to see the last of the multiple door garages. You could just imagine the concertina effect that might occur in some collision scenarios.
Although there is more work to do on some lines, and by some train companies, we now have many carriages with an unprecedented degree of refinement. There are doors that are timed to close automatically for those of us who forget this basic courtesy on a winter’s day. We have air conditioning, arm rests, improved suspension, and sometimes even individual reading lights. This is a transformation for passenger comfort but on many routes, capacity remains an issue at peak times.
It was timely that the rail industry published its plans for growth at the end of September, for the period 2014-19. The plan, if adopted in full, would stimulate economic growth by better linking our big cities, providing an additional 180,000 seats at peak time and accommodating an additional 30% increase in rail freight kilometres, equivalent to 15,000 lorry journeys per day.
For our part of the world, we should welcome the continued commitment to upgrade the Thameslink route, while pressing for greater capacity generally. This agenda will be partly met by an increasing number of 12-car trains, which is the maximum practical length on the current network. While some countries, such as theNetherlands, have a first floor on their rolling stock, this would apparently be prohibitively expensive because of the conversion effort required on our old routes.
Another way to increase capacity on national trunk routes is to proceed with High Speed Rail. As well as reducing journey times, this effort would deliver more trains per hour and therefore more passengers. Although controversial in some quarters, it is difficult to deny the economic benefits that High Speed Rail can bring. Certainly these advantages are not lost on other countries whose train speeds and journey times easily eclipse those available inBritain.
It is regrettable that as the inventors or rail transportation, and much else, that we have been left so far behind. Looking at some trains, they seem to be little more than revamped versions of the HS 125 (standing for 125 mph) engines that first made their technological breakthrough appearance in the 1970’s. It is to be hoped that the government will keep its nerve on High Speed Rail and deliver this lasting improvement to our national infrastructure.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leadere of Crawley Borough Council
15th November 2011