Re: Scotland on Sunday: Secret talks on London bullet train

Cats <ramwater@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:90365d73-e34f-414d-8782-23129bdf6cec@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 

> On Jun 1, 9:42 pm, The Voice of EDI <thevoiceof...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>> A MULTI-billion-pound plan to build a high-speed train link between
>> Scotland and London is back on track following secret talks between
>> the UK and Scottish Governments.
>>
>> http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/latestnews/-Secret-talks-on-
Londo
>> n.41 
> 39887.jp
>>
>> or
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/5d2x88
>>
>> I noticed that the print edition of the same paper had a full page ad
>> from NXEC extolling the benefits of train travel over domestic air
>> travel.
> 
> This looks like pie-in-the-sky to me.  The actual route will be highly
> contentious, both in terms of which cities want to be connected and
> where people don't want it to go. The public enquiry would never end.
> There is also the issue of how much Scotland would have to pay for,
> given (according to the article) that England would be unwilling to
> pay north of whatever the north-most major city on the new line would
> be since it would be track not of obvious direct benefit to England.
> 

Alas your picture of doom and gloom is probably a fair predictor of 
major trans****t improvements in the UK, Cats.  Eurotunnel was an obvious 
choice of route but has been a financial disaster.  Other major 
developments in my lifetime have all been in London.  (Can you call ECML 
electrification a major development?)

A fast rail link that reduces journey time to 3 hours would be enough to 
swing it away from air for most people.