Quote:
Baltasound:
This is not perhaps the thread to do this, but by the maker I have never read so much cobblers.....
A criticism without reasoning is simply purile drivel of the most infantile variety.
OK - I said I wouldn't respond on this thread as it has very little to do with aviation....
True, but going off on an ill conceived rant, without doing a modicum of basic research and living 8000 miles away from the decision is not going to help your cause either. I better put a disclaimer in here and I thought that Crossrail would not happen, so take the following with a dose of salt. But where shall we start...
Firstly. There will be a link between High Speed One and High Speed Two. So, let us bury that piece of misinformation. If in doubt, look at the maps supplied on the website -
http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publication...5001issue3.pdf.
Secondly - learn the difference between
track gauge and
loading gauge. 4ft 8 1/2 is indeed standard gauge and used throughout Europe, and indeed we don't need to regauge our trains. However the British Loading gauge is smaller and narrower than it's continental cousins. This is because we built our railways on the cheap, as a result it costs a huge sum of money to carry out the work require to make them fatter. For instance, it has cost the best part of £200m to make the route from Southampton to Birmingham vaguely passable for 9"6 containers on W10. So for crossrail to be built to full blown continental gauge will require rebuilding of large parts of the London suburban network. Crossrail is also being designed as a shoprt headway, heavy interruban service whose destination and starting points are NOT fixed because of the interoperable nature of suburban rolling stock, the trains will be stopping at lots of stations with veruy short headways. This is not a High Speed railway and the stations are being built with that in mind. So, the idea of "sidings" - I presume you mean passing loops? - underneath Tottenham Court Road with the space required to pass trains at speed, plus the engineering involved is not terribly practical is it?
3. High Speed 2 does not ignore the fact that Crossrail is in progress - it will connect at Old Oak Common with Crossrail and at Stratford International as well (Link via HS1).
4. When the "chunnel" was built (or even planned) I would have thought (and am open to correction here) that LCC were in their infancy, Open Flies was a gleam in a civil servants eye and LHR and it's attendant problems were a can to be kicked down the road. Besides as a fixed Link between the UK and France would prima facie have little impact on aviation policy, as it's prime aim was to expedite the flow of goods and services on a more terra firma basis between here and the continent. I am not sure how long you have been in the US, or if indeed you are a Brit, but there was a considerable dealy before HS1 was built, and originally that link was to avoid east London altogether and BR favoured a route approaching London south of the river. It was only routed via Ebbsfleet and across the murky Essex marshes as a regeneration project. So to castigate the planners for not thinking ahead by missing out on a theoretical airport to replace(?), add capacity to Heathrow is, I dare to suggest, missing the point entirely.
5. HS2 is being built to relieve congestion in many cases. It's business case is dependant on the full Y to Manchester/ Leeds and then Scotland coming on stream. The reason why they have decided to build a new railway rather than faff with an old one (the WCML) is that it cost £10bn just to "upgrade" the West Coast - messing about with a heavily used, mixed traffic railway and trying to keep it open at the same time is asking for trouble as Railtrack found out. However taking it in and out of Heathrow is also asking for trouble and in the governments eyes, not worth the expense. If in doubt read Hansard.
Finally, I have a feeling that Crossrail will extend to Reading and that sanity will prevail. I also have a feeling that Heathrow express will be merged into crossrail - especially T5 with a westerly link built toward Reading, so there will be an easy connection from that hub as well as OOC.
It would not surprise me in the least to find Crossrail extending to all parts of the London suburban network and that seemed to be the hint from Ms. Greenings statement.