 Swindon Kemble - Blessed are the cheesemakers. What has the ORRever done for us?
>
> Given that we are now (apparently) in the worst financial crisis for
> 60 years, with Government finances completely out of control, it's a
> racing certainty that there will have to be some hard decisions made
> after the next election, whoever wins.
>
> Rail is a very expensive item in the Budget, especially considering
> how few people use it, and I have no doubt that investment will have
> to be cut back. If the Tories win, any public money going to fund
> high speed lines will result in cuts in investment on the conventional
> network, so supporters of high speed lines should think very carefully
> about the negative effect (on the network that most passengers will
> still be using) of any successful campaign to promote the building of
> High Speed 2, 3 ... 99.
Of course, that assumes the Tories would maintain Labour’s current
business model for the railways, a model influenced by prejudice,
mistrust and a basic lack of understanding of business.
Chiltern redoubled their railway and no doubt so could FGW but not
whilst we continue with such short franchises.
As for a British TGV, surely a significant amount of private sector
finance could be attracted for that.
Government isn’t the only solution for these things and certainly
that’s one prejudice the Tories have never signed up to.
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