MSP's PRESSED ON RAIL LINK

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

Good to see a start date-why not get the vegetation clearance done by community service guys,and lads from "young offenders institutes" surely it would be cheaper,and all the hard work might just benefit those involved?

[52A]

Wouldn't that breach their human rights?

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

Yeah,i forgot-they're not allowed to break a sweat!

[Bryan]

Taken from Britarch today.

http://www.bordertelegraph.com/news/rou ... commences/

[60041]

The BBC are reporting that the Scottish Transport Minister has said that the Waverley Route "could be opened through to Carlisle"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/sou ... 412593.stm

I know that you can never trust a politician, but it is good to think that the idea is not being dismissed as impossible

[52D]

With a name like stevenson he could just be about correct.

[JustinTime]

Despite all the promises and forecasts made in the run up to closure of the Waverley Line, not too much has been done to improve the road infrastructure in the Borders Region, possibly the largest area in the UK NOT served by rail.

Except for a bit of straightening here and there, from the A702 in South Lanarkshire to the A697 Coldstream road, the situation today is much the same as when I passed my test in 1966, omitting the fact that in that time commercial traffic on these one lane highways has at least quadrupled. Unbelievably the A1 is still a single lane artery for large stretches until reaching Morpeth southbound. I can think of only two villages and towns to have been totally bypassed along the Waverley Line in that time, Middleton and Newton St Boswells.
Today 44 Tonne GVW heavies are the norm on these roads, coming off the M6/A74M, headed for Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife and woe betide you if you are unfortunate enough to see a Logger in your rear view, these things 'own' the A701.

As someone has already alluded to, I hope sense prevails and the initial line to Tweedbank is doubled from the outset to save the extra expense in a few years of having to relay because of unexpected demand.
As a rider to this issue, a nameless bureaucrat in the Scottish Government at the outset suggested that Waverley Station was at saturation point without any additional services?!
As a young boy I can well remember when the Waverley, just before the introduction of DMUs, hosted the Edinburgh South Suburban service and numerous other services, long gone, to Fife, the East Coast, the Lothians and beyond, plus a goods facility in Market Street, plus the GPO mail traffic which in those days was handled exclusively by rail, plus the TPO movements and all these shunting operations were handled by steam station pilots in conjunction with signal boxes at the East and Weat ends so I've no idea where that chestnut came from!

On another track, pun intended, the City of Edinburgh has been in virtual gridlock, on a daily basis for nearly two years since utility diversion work commenced along the route of the new tram system.
Would it really have been too costly to keep at least some of the ex Caley and NBR lines in the city open on a care and maintenance basis instead of the wholesale 'rip it up now before someone has an idea for its' future use' mentality? The length of track laid so far......about a mile and the original budget is expected to soar past the £500 million mark.
Ironically, apart from the movement of pipes for the oil industry, the main cargo coming into Leith Docks is Polish and Russian coal chiefly destined for Cockenzie Power station.
These trains pass over millions of tons of the stuff lying under our feet. Did no-one with a bit of foresight see the day coming when oil and gas would not be so cheap?

Or was it politics?

I feel better now that's off my chest!

[manna]

G'Day Gents

It's politics! always was always will be, you could hit them over the head with a large stick until your hand fell off, and it still would,nt sink in

What's the difference between a brick and a polly----------------- a bricks useful

manna

[Paul B]

How do you know when a politician is lying?


Their lips move...