Plans for high-speed link to England

[orudge]

The Scottish Government today announced major construction plans for the next 20 years, including a high-speed rail link from Scotland to north-west England. There's a story about it on the BBC. It does depend on a commitment from the UK government to fund the line up to the Scottish border, though.

Perhaps concerningly, "First Minister Alex Salmond, who is on a trade visit to China, said that if Scotland did develop high speed rail, it would "undoubtedly" use Chinese technology." Now, I imagine he perhaps said that just because he was in China, but considering the recent safety issues these Chinese trains seem to have had, I wonder if that may be the best choice. We shall see, I guess. A long way to go yet.

The A9 between Inverness and Perth and the A96 are also to be dualled, which is nice. Whether the government will be able to afford all this, though, is something else. And of course, should another party come to power in 4 years time, the whole plan may be thrown out of the window!

It is a lot of money, of course, and to be honest, I'd probably prefer to the Aberdeen to Edinburgh line electrified, and work done to improve the assorted lines north of the central belt.

[Chris]

Did I ever mention that I wanted to move to Scotland?

The Chinese trains are the only concerning thing.

[John]

Mr Salmond, ... , praised China's bullet trains and the Maglev system.

That would be the bullet trains that so famously crashed, and the Maglev system that is German.

The A9 between Inverness and Perth and the A96 are also to be dualled, which is nice.

I don't know about the A96 - but what would the actual benefit be of dualing the A9 the whole way? Sure, it won't cost much as it was built to be dualled at a later date - but you will hardly get faster journey times. Sure, lorries could legally travel at 60mph and cars at 70mph instead of the 40mph and 60mph they currently can do - but (with the exception of Tesco lorries) all lorries travel at 56mph bouncing off their limiters and cars are at 70mph anyway. And, certainly last time I was up there, rush hour traffic between Inverness and Perth was rather limited (and the road dualled where it was bad anyway).

/Rant

Whether the government will be able to afford all this, though, is something else. And of course, should another party come to power in 4 years time, the whole plan may be thrown out of the window!

Quite, seems more a vote winner santa wish list than a proper proposal.

[orudge]

I don't know about the A96 - but what would the actual benefit be of dualing the A9 the whole way? Sure, it won't cost much as it was built to be dualled at a later date - but you will hardly get faster journey times. Sure, lorries could legally travel at 60mph and cars at 70mph instead of the 40mph and 60mph they currently can do - but (with the exception of Tesco lorries) all lorries travel at 56mph bouncing off their limiters and cars are at 70mph anyway. And, certainly last time I was up there, rush hour traffic between Inverness and Perth was rather limited (and the road dualled where it was bad anyway).

I don't know, in my relatively limited experience of the A9, there tend to be quite a few platoons of slow moving vehicles, particularly in the summer. When it's quieter, yes, you can cruise along at 70mph, at least until you come across the next lorry. A dualled A9 would provide predictable journey times - generally, you'll be able to safely do 70-80mph for your entire trip. Plus, as you say, lorries will be able to do 50mph rather than 40mph (not 60mph; although I imagine most will stick on the limiter, as they do on the A90).

Also, I'm personally of the opinion that our most important transport arteries should be dual carriageway simply because they are our most important roads - and those would include the A9 and the A96.

Now, the A96 probably doesn't need to be dualled the entire way, but if it was entirely alternating S2+1, that would help. But, I guess if you're doing that, you might as well add a 4th lane and a central reservation!

[oleinves]

First Minister Alex salmond ... it would "undoubtedly" use Chinese technology.

n i thought we are supposed to be supporting the EU economy (Siemens ) and not those chinese who don't even publish any sort of crash investigation and only know how to bury the injured ostrich in the sand

for those interested in the china communist rail market and its media look here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... an-up.html (esp. the part from paragraph 10)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/65bb38f6-cb26 ... z1fsCD8nBs
(might need a google search if u cannot enter page; i used keywords: china high speed rail carriage maker, and it should appear on first page)
(“Facing this clenched fist, any big global player entering the Chinese market had to agree to all-round technology transfer, localised production, the creation of a Chinese brand and reasonable prices,” Xinhua says.)

[Doorslammer]

I shouldn't be too concerned about Chinese rolling stock really. It has to make certain standards in the UK. If they don't, then that's them out of the picture, really.

[teccuk]

Well if Sco goes independent it can set its own standards. So if Salmon thinks cheap Chinese trains are good enough... they'll do up to the border

Excellent. Two lots of politicians wanting their own ego-sating infrastructure projects at both ends of the country.

[PikkaBird]

Perhaps concerningly, "First Minister Alex Salmond, who is on a trade visit to China, said that if Scotland did develop high speed rail, it would "undoubtedly" use Chinese technology." Now, I imagine he perhaps said that just because he was in China, but considering the recent safety issues these Chinese trains seem to have had, I wonder if that may be the best choice. We shall see, I guess. A long way to go yet.

The trains involved in the Wenzhou train collision were Swedish and Japanese designs, though. China's rail safety issues are with everything but rolling stock.

[JamieLei]

Perhaps concerningly, "First Minister Alex Salmond, who is on a trade visit to China, said that if Scotland did develop high speed rail, it would "undoubtedly" use Chinese technology." Now, I imagine he perhaps said that just because he was in China, but considering the recent safety issues these Chinese trains seem to have had, I wonder if that may be the best choice. We shall see, I guess. A long way to go yet.

The trains involved in the Wenzhou train collision were Swedish and Japanese designs, though. China's rail safety issues are with everything but rolling stock.

I went to a talk by Adrian Shooter, Chairman of Chiltern Railways the other week where he talked about High Speed Rail. According to him, the problem was the procedures in place if a signalling failure happened, which were overrulled by authorities who wanted to get the trains moving again as quickly as possible (as opposed to in the UK where everything comes a deadlock but is perfectly safe).