This is true, but then there's no point in the railway investing in the infrastructure to provide this, when factors beyond their control render it useless: Examples of this include the airline Check-in desks provided at Paddington, Victoria and Manchester (since removed in the latter 2 cases afaik); and the luggage vans on the 460s, which are also no longer in use for their original purpose of carrying pre-checked baggage. The post 9/11 heightening of airline security has caused these problems, and also made the act of travelling by air (or by other modes when you're talking internationally) more difficult and time-consuming. But then as long as issues like that exist in the world, there's going to be a fair bit of inconvenience for the ordinary person.orudge wrote:
Again, I've said it before, but if you want to make a high speed rail link work seamlessly for airport connections, you need to have it all integrated so you can go to your airline's web site and book a ticket from, say, Manchester HS2 Station to New York, then at the station you hand over your luggage, get given boarding passes and set off just as you would if you were checking into your flight at Manchester. Then go through security at Heathrow and straight to your next gate, without faffing around with bags and suchlike.
Of course, my main bugbear with air travel in general is that it is, and will continue to be, a luxury that the vast majority of people even in the West have little opportunity to use, yet is subsidised by tax-breaks and favourable legislation. The Airlines and their lobby groups continue to beat the drum of the overall contribution it makes to the economy, as if this means the environmental question is no longer relevant: just because the question has disappeared from the front pages, doesn't mean it's gone away! If people start using Schipol and Frankfurt rather than Heathrow for transfers, big deal: If they were able to get from Manchester to Schipol by High-Speed rail rather than a short-haul connecting flight, that'd be a better option.
p.s. Rail is also becoming a rich-person's luxury, but that's another story altogether!
