Good idea to get to Birmingham 40 minutes quicker objected to by a lot of N.I.M.B.Y’s?

Or a sad loss of ever-dwindling countryside?

I thought it was only 20 minutes quicker?

I would have thought upgrading the existing line and stations would have been a better idea for the money. As it stands, it does seem like there’s going to be a lot damage for relatively little benefit, especially for those between Birminghan and London who are going to have a lot of damage and disruption, and won’t even get a new station out of it.

I have a friend who lives in a village where this new line will completely cut in half. It will be 500 metres from her house which has been on the market for a couple of years with no takers.

Circumstances dictate that she needs to downsize, she’s been refused a hardship grant and is not entitled to compensation.

Once again, we have self-serving politicians with jobs for the boys etc. They have no grasp of anyone else’s quality of life in this overcrowded island.

While I’d agree in principle upgrading the existing lines would be ideal, the reality is a crippling series of stoppages that would convert more people to cars and lead to less-than-perfect solution. Why bother?

On the other hand, who’s going to upkeep two sets of lines following roughly the same route and will the old lines be catered for in budgets when the new lines start pulling in cash. And all for 20 minutes. Seems a bit daft.

oh yeah, i can see loads of people wanting to go to birmingham.

as the recent change of publicity tack proves, its now all about increasing passenger capacity, they will sell it anyway they can, but i dont know why cos its gonna happen.

bridge the north south divide – yeah right. It will provide years of local employment for the destitute southerners and then allow easier commuting to the capital.

The real damage to the Chilterns was caused by the M40 – this is nothing by comparison. It’s worth pointing out that the main benefit is improved capacity rather than journey times.

They have no grasp of anyone else’s quality of life in this overcrowded island

‘They’ do, but it’s a balancing act isn’t it?

see, ransos swallowed last weeks pr tripe.

see, ransos swallowed last weeks pr tripe.

Ransos is capable of digesting the facts and making his own mind up, rather than some pathetic knee-jerk response.

The argument’s been about capacity all along. Newspapers seem to have been pushing the 20min saving thing but that’s never been the justification.

I have a friend who lives in a village where this new line will completely cut in half. It will be 500 metres from her house which has been on the market for a couple of years with no takers.

If they’re planning on putting a station near by, the line will be good for house prices, no?
Possibly the main thing we’re seeing here is that one of the things that we fear most is change, but we all know that if the change is imposed upon us we will adapt quickly and easily.

If they’re planning on putting a station near by, the line will be good for house prices, no?

There aren’t any stations, except London and Birmingham!

As far as I am aware there aren’t any villages that are cut in half by the line, but there certainly is planning blight along the route. There are also supposed to be some hefty compensation payments.

If they’re planning on putting a station near by, the line will be good for house prices, no?

No, usually a line close to a house reduces the price, from what I’ve seen (unless it’s far enough away not to be heard)

No, usually a line close to a house reduces the price, from what I’ve seen.

What about near a station? Like I said…

What we need are modern infrastructure champions like, Thomas Telford or Isambard Kingdom Brunel to drive these projects through, planning in the UK is like pushing custard up hill with a fork, no new train lines, houses, power stations, reservoir’s, need I go on.

We need to invest in the future, not the past, take a look at China; they see investment in infrastructure as absolutely key to their future prosperity.

London to Birmingham without stopping at a station. 🙄

Of course I haven’t even mentioned about the possibility of Chiltern trails being vandalised.

What about near a station? Like I said…

Stations usually contain a line, as far as I remember. It’s a while since I used a train though, so can’t be sure.

Well it’s a national infrastructure project – it means that the WCML can be used for local and freight services with the additional capacity of HS2 required to allow that to happen. I’d think that most people would agree that the Chilterns is already pretty well provided for at the moment and the near future.

Sweetheart, I think there’s a bit of a difference between a line running through your back garden and a station which will put your village on the commuter map. I’ve seen it happen with Valencian house prices increasing as the AVE arrived there, cities which are a two hour drive like Ciudad Real become a 45 minute commute because of the stations and not the line alone. 🙄

There are also supposed to be some hefty compensation payments.

I’d take that with a pinch of salt – I know both with the M6 Toll and the widening of the track through Tamworth that getting promised compensation from companies is a nightmare.

With the M6 Toll, the area I grew up in lost a chunk of greenbelt and quite a few homes and facilities. The local football club lost its pitch and changing rooms, a horseriding school lost a chunk of its land and stables, and the motorcross course was obliterated. If I recall correctly, they were promised that they’d be compensated fully, but a few years after constructed the owners were trying lower the amounts, saying that they’d only pay for the cost of half of the football pitch (as only half of it ended being dug up), and refused to pay for ‘temporary’ buildings, such as stables and changing rooms. I think the football facilities were only replaced in 2009, but none of it was paid for by the people that profit the M6 Toll – it came through sports grants and the Highways Agency. That said, given that hardly anyone uses the bloody thing, it’s questionable how much profit they’re making…

On the plus side there will be loads of pedestrian bridges where all the paths have to cross over the new line – this means more steps to try to ride down. Steps always liven up a mountain bike ride.

Of course I haven’t even mentioned about the possibility of Chiltern trails being vandalised

The only useful bit of trail lost on the current proposed route is part of the Chiltern bridleway near Wendover. When its not in a tunnel the line runs mostly in the bottom of the valley away from where the decent riding is.

So there are only two station? Birmingham and London?

Why can’t they just invest in two large catapults and some netting?

hhmm while they are spending all these billions could someone ask tehm to sneak a chairlift in at aston, maybe close the golf course so the DH runs can extend further down the hil 😉

Steps always liven up a mountain bike ride

It’s a tragedy.

don simon,
THERE ARE NO NEW STATIONS SWEETY 🙄 😀

Sweetheart, I think there’s a bit of a difference between a line running through your back garden and a station which will put your village on the commuter map. I’ve seen it happen with Valencian house prices increasing as the AVE arrived there, cities which are a two hour drive like Ciudad Real become a 45 minute commute because of the stations and not the line alone.

Sweety darling I think you’re vastly over-estimating the positive outcome from it, ignoring the fact that there won’t be any stations for your point to help out. Seriously, “sweetheart”? WTF is wrong with you? Houses close enough to a rail line, certainly around here, to be useful benefit from significantly reduced prices. I was looking for one only a year or so ago and could have bought a house right near a station for about 40K under the price I got my similarly sized house here. Because of the noise and disruption don’t you know. Nowt worse than a train thundering past 100m from your house at 2am. Outlying towns and villages close enough to the line to become commuter villages, sure, but not ones [villages] where the line runs right through – people like their peace and quiet and tend to move to villages for that. FWIW I used to live in a commuter village with a train station. Recently the trees surrounding the line were removed for safety reasons and the noise from the passing trains went through the roof, this spawned a series of people moving OUT citing that as a major factor. Each to his own I guess though.

I have a friend who lives in a village where this new line will completely cut in half. It will be 500 metres from her house which has been on the market for a couple of years with no takers.

I live nearer than that and due to a hotel they’ve moved it 80m nearer.

Only ‘village’ I know of is Wendover, that will be ‘cut’, and even then its a bit tenuous.

Of course I haven’t even mentioned about the possibility of Chiltern trails being vandalised.

We will be keeping an eye on these, as my ‘dog run’ BW is part of the line – Aylesbury to Eythrope, for those that know it.

And the real reason is ‘capacity’, not speed. A bit like when they built the M40 to relieve the M1.

unfortunately don simone likes to use ‘sweetheart’ to elicit a response

making a good point DS, shame you appear to know diddly squat about this subject in reality tho. now pop along for your tea eh?

Ah, the Daily Mash! 😀