AN OUTSIDE VIEW

This table is from a report produced by the Commission for Integrated Transport in 2005. The figures give maximum system capacity (passengers per hour per direction). It suggests that when there are more than about 3,000 passengers per hour - say around 40 buses - it is time to start thinking about replacing them with trams. Standard bus 2,500-4,000 Busway 4,000-6,000 Guided bus 4,000-6,000 Tram/Light rail 12,000-18,000 Heavy rail 10,000-30,000 Link to full report

The Campaign to Protect Rural England has commented on the HS2 proposal here Whilst being neither for or against it, much the same points are made as have been given on this site, only more cogently, plus a few more into the bargain. On the positive side, it notes that construction of the line could create opportunities for environmental improvement.

This morning I tried to take a train from Brighton to Seaford but gave up the attempt. When I arrived at the station there were long queues at all the ticket machines and in the booking office. It was touch and go whether I would catch my train. Whilst waiting, I noticed that the train was one of the class 313 stock which have just been introduced - these are the cast-offs from London Overground. They have no toilets, and as I needed to use one, I gave up, went home and then took the bus. As I have a bus pass, I saved £2.65. Surprisingly, I arrived at my destination only five minutes later than if I had gone on the train. If one is going to travel in discomfort, there is no point in paying if one can go free of charge. And since one now has to allow 20 minutes to purchase a ticket, the train doesn't even save time. The interesting thing is why Southern has done nothing to resolve the ticket machine problem in the five years it has had them. I have complained endlessly to Southern a...

Stockholm tram at Ryssvikken , originally uploaded by seadipper . The museum tramway in Stockholm (above) is being extended into the city centre and is due to open in August. This 700 metre extension is the first stage in the creation of a trunk route across the city. At a costing 230 million kronor, around £20 million, it seems remarkably inexpensive by British standards. A feature of the construction system is the use of large pre-cast concrete panels to lay the track on, which is quicker, cheaper and less disruptive. This is shown in the film

I came across this letter from a retired and well-respected psychiatrist, in the 10th April issue of The Tablet. It puts the issue of the Catholic Church's way of dealing with paedophile priests in quite a different light. "In the light of my long experience in treating priests with sexual aberrations including pederasty, I have concluded that both the critics and supporters of the Pope and worldwide hierarchies are thinking wrongheadedly. However inanely they may have carried it out, these authorities were right to try to keep control over paedophile priests. In The Times of 26 March, the Archbishop of Westminster wrongly advised “fast-track dismissal from the clerical state for offenders” and there being for them “no hiding place”. It is precisely such a suitable hiding place that is needed for paedophile priests, albeit one that is extremely hard, sometimes impossible, to come by. "Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, while Bishop of Arundel and Brighton, was severely criticised ...

Article in Guardian by George Monbiot : What's not to like about high-speed rail? The case simply hasn't been made. The comments, both for and against, are also worth reading. My own postings are under the name of Physiocrat.

One of the biggest problems with kettles of all sizes is damage done by scale (top picture) and corrosion (lower picture). These pictures show the inside of a locomotive boiler after a period in service. This can eventually stop the boiler from working properly and it could even lead to failure and loss of life. Consequently, boilers have to be inspected and often completely rebuilt - in Britain the period is every seven years. This is one of the things that makes steam locomotive hopelessly uneconomic. But with the Porta system of water treatment, the inside of the boiler develops a protective coating of oxide and the scale remains in suspension instead of building up as a layer of lime (below). The result, it is claimed, is a reduction in maintenance costs of 90%

Waiting for a Signal , originally uploaded by Wavellite . This modern locomotive is little bigger than a toy but embodies very advanced technology. It runs on a tourist railway in Ushuaia in Patagonia. The conical funnel is optimised according to the principles established by Argentinian engineer L D Porta. Not visible is the special water treatment system which, by protecting the boiler, completely eliminates the need for frequent and expensive maintenance. The main principle of the system is to add sufficient alkali to the water that to raise the pH of the contents of the boiler to a very high level, greater than 10. This is combined with anti-foaming agents to prevent carry-over of harmful substances and damaging material into the cylinders. Any water supply is suitable. When the system is working properly, the water has a brown colouration due to the materials in suspension. This can be observed in the gauge glasses. After a while the interior of the boiler becomes coated with a un...

Another project that might benefit from a haircut is the package of schemes planned for the Great Western main line. These include Crossrail and its extension to Reading, reconstruction of the station and junction at Reading with a grade-separation of the Newbury and Bristol lines, and electrification to Newbury, Oxford, Bristol and Swansea. The projects themselves are obviously worthwhile, but having them all going on at once will be disruptive. It all sounds too much. How will reliable services be maintained? There are alternative routes, up to a point. There is the South-Western main line through Salisbury and Exeter, though capacity is limited. The Chiltern Railways proposal will eventually provide a good connection from Oxford to London via Bicester and High Wycombe. This is a case where there many be a need for better phasing, which would also have the advantage of spreading out the cost over a longer period.

Proposals for a new main line from London to Brighton, the BML2 Project, have been put forward by Brian Hart, who has extensive knowledge and enormous enthusiasm of the national railways in the South East corner of the UK. He was also instrumental in starting the Wealden Line Campaign many years ago, in an endeavour to get the railway line rebuilt from Lewes to Uckfield. It is claimed that BML2 is in the unique position of being capable of solving many of the serious problems facing the most over-crowded routes between London, Sussex, Surrey and Kent. It also offers other opportunities to enhance the network further and strengthen the capital’s position in Europe. The focus of growth in London is gravitating eastwards, whilst the city and its environs seem set to continue their key role in the financial, commercial and tourist sector. An important benefit of BML2 would be to reconnect the swathe of people living in the Wealden/Mid Sussex/Kent areas directly by rail to the South Coast. ...

Like Crossrail, Thameslink could benefit from a haircut. It would be advantageous if the route was cut back and possibly transferred to London Overground. North of London, it should not run much north of, say, St Alban's or Welwyn Garden City. Suitable destinations south of London would be Wimbledon, Bromley South, Caterham and Tattenham Corner. Procurement of new trains for Thameslink has been problematic due to the number of conflicting requirements that must be satisfied for a route that is a long-distance service that also carries crush-loaded traffic through the centre of London. Instead of procuring a fleet of trains to an entirely new design, a further build of the Bombardier class 378 would do very nicely for such a cut-back service. If the cash is really running out, a refreshment of the class 313 fleet would suffice.

With cuts in the offing, many schemes are likely to get the chop. Crossrail, in its present incarnation, must surely be a prime candidate. It began as a much-needed east-west relief route to the Central and Metropolitan Lines and has ended up as a regional express line through London, an east-west counterpart to Thameslink. Now Thameslink is not a good model to follow. First, it transfers delays across networks that are otherwise independent. Disruption at, say, Luton, will eventually cause problems at Haywards Heath, and vice versa. Second, it means that passengers are forced to travel in discomfort for long distances in trains that are designed for short journeys in crush-loading conditions. Third, the trains must be dual voltage, with heavy transformer equipment that is inefficient on the city-centre stretches of route with closely-spaced stops. Precisely the same objections will apply to Crossrail. In addition, because so much of the route is in tunnel, there will be substantial ex...

Storbritanniens allmänna val som skedde för en vecka sedan blev en besvikelse för alla tre av de största partierna. De Konservativa vann men fick inte tillräckligt med röst för att de kunna bilda regering utan hjälp av Liberal Demokraterna. Strax efter valet följde förhandlingar mellan de Konservativas ledare, David Cameron och Liberal Demokraternas ledare, Nick Clegg, men det verkade som om partierna inte kunde samarbeta. Sedan annonserade Labour premiärminister Gordon Brown att han skulle avgå som partiledare, förhandlingar påbörjades mellan Nick Clegg och de andra Labour ledarna. När det blev klart att Labour och Liberal Demokraterna inte kunde samarbeta, avgick Gordon Brown. Plötsligt kom en annonsering på måndag kväll att David Cameron hade blivit Storbritanniens premiärminister i samarbete med Liberal Demokraterna. Men överenskommelsen mellan Liberal Demokraterna och de Konservativa är beroende av flera förutsättningar, framför allt att landet får en folkomröstning om frågan hur ...

Class 313 in Southern livery at Brighton , originally uploaded by seadipper . I posted this on Flickr late yesterday. It has already been viewed 16 times, and favourited three times. Strange, I only put it there to write about it on my other blog, to say that these trains are not going to be popular when they start running on Coastway services.

Class 313 in Southern livery at Brighton , originally uploaded by seadipper . The class 313 suburban trains introduced in the mid 1970s were never the most wonderful of trains. They have been running around in the London area for far too long, but have finally been replaced as London Overground has taken over the routes and introduced new trains. Now these badly designed trains have been sent to plague passengers on routes along the south coast. To be fair, Southern has got a problem as there is little else available that is suitable, and it has done them up as best it can. New seats are being fitted, one hopes not in the original configuration which is very cramped and gives nobody an unobstructed view out of the train - this is not necessary. They have no air conditioning, but nor do they have the anti-draught sliding ventilators fitted to the mark 1 stock, and so the windows cannot be opened without causing a draught down the whole length of the carriage. The trains have no toilets ...

Religiösa judiska familjer håller sina egna urgamla traditioner. Män och kvinnor brukar gifta sig när de är ganska unga. Ofta händer det innan de fyller tjugo år. Vigseln sker utomhus under en slags tält som kallas ”kupah” och i vigselakten, placeras ett glass på golvet efter välsignelser och brudgummen trampar på det och krossar det. Ortodoxa judar firar bröllopet på ett särskilt sätt. I matsalen ställs upp en hög gardin som delar rummet i två halvor. Män och pojkar sitter i en halva och kvinnor och flickor i den andra halven. Målet består av en riktig bankett. Efter måltiden, flyttas borden utmed väggarna och män dansar med män och kvinnor med kvinnor. Musiker spelar gamla musikstycken i öst europeiska stilen; ett typiskt band består av en fiolspelare, dragspelare, klarinettspelare och trumslagare. Mycket brännvin drickes och männen blir mycket fulla som är helt ovanligt bland judar. Eftersom det unga paret oftast är fattigt brukar de bo i dåliga omständigheter. Ibland är ortodoxa ju...

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Brighton Station ticket queue , originally uploaded by seadipper . I have complained endlessly about Southern's so-called Fasticket machines since they were introduced in a hasty system-wide rollout in 2005. Nothing fundamental has been done to address the problems. They are cumbersome with a poor and non-intuitive program flow, a poor interface and a lack of reliability, especially the on-screen keyboard which passengers must use if they are not going to the most popular dozen or so destinations. The touch screens are either over-sensitive or unresponsive, and sometimes both, depending which part of the screen has to be touched. Most people seem to take about two minutes to buy a ticket , with the result that queues can build up, and so one needs to allow ten minutes to get a ticket . When one considers that the government is willing to spend billions on a high speed, just to save a few minutes on a long journey, it makes no sense to force passengers to waste their time queuing to...

East London Line - May 2010 , originally uploaded by Danny McL . The East London Line extension has now opened with this fleet of new trains. It is an excellent scheme created mostly on alignments where the trains stopped running long ago. With further extensions it will eventually link Highbury with various destinations in south and south-east London. There are many journeys that people will now be able to make faster and more easily. Of course this will have a significant effect on rents and property prices, and so yet again we shall see public investment creating land value which will end up in private pockets. No wonder the Treasury is tight-fisted about spending money on railway improvements.

At the start of the campaign, I was far from being decided on whom to vote for. As an outright owner of two properties, and living outside the UK 40% of the year, I have a vested interest in voting Conservative. But when I read the anti-Green leaflet that came through my door yesterday from the Conservative candidate, I resolved on the Green. The Conservatives have done what the Greens ought to have done for themselves! It's a funny old world. I have not great admiration for the Greens. They are, these days, mostly recycled socialists of a priggish and self-righteous stripe. Many of their policies are plain batty. But it is evident from the Conservative leaflet that some of the policies are very sensible, and the criticism they make of them is silly and superficial. The Greens propose an increase in taxes on alcohol. This is overdue; given the local problems we experience every weekend, dearer booze would be beneficial. The Green proposal for a congestion charge for Brighton shou...