Should it go on the road network or rail upgrades?

I’m voting for the roads.

trail building
😀

depends – is it in used notes? small denominations?

Do you want a vat receipt?

Its just we’ve got a bit of tarmac left over from a job and I noticed your drive looks like it needs redoing

In the spirit of STW, I’m voting for the rails

depends if its new rail or improving/subsidising the current “network”

In the spirit of STW, I’m voting for the rails

in the spirit of STW you should then complain that you don’t know how to book a ticket without getting shafted 😆

depends if its new rail or improving/subsidising the current “network”

and if its new rail whether you are allowed to describe landscape as ‘ancient’ if those new rails come near your house

I’d spend it on implementing infrastructure in towns and cities that gave priority to pedestrians, cyclists and buses over private cars.

From what I read the money is going to improve the links to London and not local connections. On that basis I would spend the money on the roads as it would improve life for most of the population including cyclists.

It needs to be on Rail. Roads just filter into cities which you cant really get much more traffic in there without gridlock.

Roads…

Specifically to provide better cycling (and pedestrian) facilities.

i.e. this:

not this:

and definitely not this:

Rail.

Pies..

Pies..

This. And research into the benefits of pies within pies.

Local rail.

Now that I got a car … road …

Rail is for strikers …

Shouldn’t the private rail companies pay to upgrade the infrastructure?

i think youll find that its been spent on the olympics

personally id say rail/ integrated cycle transport and ban all cars in built up areas

Radical idea here but why not spend it on…both.
You know, a sort of integrated transport infrastructure, the one that John Prescott promised us back in 1997.

Edit: well not the exact one obviously cos that’ll be 15 years out of date, I mean one that actually works.

cheaper rail with discounts for those with a bicycle, and a special carriage for cyclists with free wifi access and booze cart serving cask ale and pie. and if there’s any spare cash it should be spent on dancing girls.

Rail. I drive but am making a concious effort not to drive the day after drinking for obvious reasons. As a result of this I’ve been “enjoying” the UK’s rail system for a variety of weekends away.

Frankly, the roads are wonderful compared to the slow, overpriced muck that is the railways.

Well, firstly it’s not really £9bn – more than £5bn of that was already earmarked for Thameslink and the like, they’ve just decided not to cancel some spending.

Secondly, yet again it seems massively weighted towards the south-east. The south-east already gets about 1000 times* as much spent per head on transport infrastructure than the north-east, for example.

Not to mention that about £1bn of that came from Scottish and NI taxpayers, and we’re not seeing a penny.

So the money should go on rail, but not willy-waving big projects in the capital but useful small projects and improvements around the country.

*no, that’s not a misprint.

The more money you put into rail the more strikes you get …

The more money you put into rail the more strikes you get …

And the more money you put into roads the more cars you get…

And research into the benefits of pies within pies.

I have been conducting said research, and have decided that instead of a small pie within a big pie,. A small suet pudding inside a big pie may be the way forward in respect to the small pie going soggy inside the big pie issue..
My research continues…

GrahamS – Member

And the more money you put into roads the more cars you get…

The more cars you get the more people can travel freely to visit the places they want without being held ransom by strikers … 😆

a small suet pudding inside a big pie may be the way forward

are you off your head? it’s people like you who invented the Gala Pie (pork pie with an egg in), and decided that a dish with some stew in and a flaky pie crust on top was a good idea.
Leave the pie alone.

Luddite… 🙄
But hey! 😀 at least we’ve got to the important stuff…

The more cars you get the more people can travel freely to visit the places they want without being held ransom by strikers …

“Travel freely”? ROFL.

What’s the average traffic speed now in London (where this money will be spent)? About 17mph? Less during rush hour.
You think more cars will speed that up?

Shouldn’t the private rail companies pay to upgrade the infrastructure?

Absolutely not. But they do.

NR’s infrastructure upgrades are very often paid via third party investment in the network (which NR then gets the benefit of since it forms part of its RAB – which it can then borrow against). I spent 3 years acting for various bodies when third party investment in the railway came up for review by the ORR. it is a hugely clunky mechanism which is massively in NR’s favour, which is silly, since it ultimately deters the big money investors from making network improvements.

The fact that Network Rail (a private company) fails to maintain its network to any sort of reasonable standard means that its only really sensible to run heavy rolling stock on the network so that it isn’t shaken to death by the substandard infrastructure, leading to HUGE life-cycle maintenance costs for those trains (which are then passed back to passengers and receipents of rail freight etc).

The almost laughable irony is that when you run a heavy train on NR’s infrastructure, your track access payments (i.e. the payments the train operating companies pay to NR to use the network) are higher because NR claims that heavier trains mean mean higher maintenance costs for the infrastructure.

What’s needed (for rail) is modern and well maintained infrastructure, so that we can catch up with the rest of the world and run lighter, faster, cheaper trains which require less maintenance. Pigs might also fly.

From a wider perspective, what the UK REALLY needs is inter-modal transport. and I mean PROPER inter-modal transport, not a half-arsed effort where First Group et al still fail to recognise muliticketing.

Park and Ride
Regulated bus market (like London)
multi-ticketing schemes – to allow bus/underground/rail/Park and Ride etc all on one ticket
Proper priority systems for public transport, so that it is undeniably quicker than car for town journeys
Ride quality improvements for buses and trams (i.e. better road surfaces, everywhere else in Europe does it, just not us).

Interesting choice Road or Rail..

I’ll vote…….

Roads..

I know but this week I’m commuting by car cos’ I’m bored with Rail and I’ve just bought a convertable.

I reserve the right to change my vote based on weather and whim.

peterfile – Member

+1 I vote you for Minister of Moving Things.

I give up on rail, no matter how much money gets poured into it, it’s still crap. It’ll all get wasted on “high speed trains” which will cause more problems than they solve and still be unreliably late.

Reliability is key with public transport.

I don’t care how long a journey takes, I’ll plan it out so I arrive on time. However if one train or bus is late or a no show in all that planning is moot.

edit: I say spend it on improved driving test and standards.

GrahamS – Member

“Travel freely”? ROFL.

What’s the average traffic speed now in London (where this money will be spent)? About 17mph? Less during rush hour.
You think more cars will speed that up?

Yesterday I drove 126 miles in my car (auto gear is brilliant for you skeptics it’s like saying F1 should use manual gear LOL!) and I managed to drive to areas inaccessible to normal traffic. Try visiting Holy Island with your trains … 🙄

Maggots crawl slowly in London regardless of what trains you have. Fact! In fact cities all over the world are full of maggots crawling slowly like zombies heading to their doom. Fact.

Yes, travel freely … you either pay in the restricted zones or simply don’t enter it, but at least you have the freedom to choose unlike those strikers demanding your life or dictating their terms to you.

😆

Developing hover boards for the masses.

i think chewkw has some kind of issue with strikers

Start with escorts. As the money starts to run out move on to call girls. When the money is almost all gone prossies in massage palours. When you are down to the last £50 go curb crawling.

i think chewkw has some kind of issue with strikers

I think chewkw just has issues…

GrahamS – Member

i think chewkw has some kind of issue with strikers

I think chewkw just has issues…

Strikers should be put to hard Labour … 😆