At 4.00 am, all the ferries are converging on Mariehamn, population about 10,000? Where is Mariehamn? It is the capital of Åland, which is ethnically Swedish but belongs to Finland. Rather than blowing each other up, they agree to go their own ways, so they opted out of the EU tax regime. The ferries stop there so they can have a duty-free shop on board. Nutty, isn't it?
The Guardian has published a couple more articles against HS2, one by specialist rail commentator Christian Wolmar, and another today by journalist Simon Jenkins. The main arguments in favour will doubtless be wheeled out by the commentators: the need for capacity and the disruption caused by upgrading existing routes. HST itself will severely disrupt services to Euston during the construction period. Capacity can be increased at a fraction of the cost by a variety of measures, provided that it is accepted that the additional traffic will run at existing speeds. It is not generally known that the Midland main line is, or was, four track all the way from London to Trent Junction, between Nottingham and Derby. This is because the additional tracks are separate, having been added for coal trains which trundled down to Brent sidings, on the edge of London, from a collection point at Toton in Nottinghamshire, where the Midland Railway build a huge marshalling yard. Beyond Derby, the main l...
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