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Post by Patrick on Dec 15, 2008 23:51:45 GMT
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Post by housesparrow on Dec 20, 2008 12:52:42 GMT
Cutting the journey time by 30 per cent is really good news and will make a holiday in Scotland a lot more feasible for me! Even though I live in the south east it takes me nearly 2 hours to get to London - plus the tube journey across the city - so getting to Glasgow is quite daunting at the moment.
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Post by Patrick on Dec 20, 2008 13:17:56 GMT
Trouble is, a long time ago they moved the goal posts. I used to be able to get from Kent to Cardiff in Three hours, the current timetable makes it even slower than that. I used to be able to get from Kent to Derbyshire 30 minutes faster than today. Where the WCML is concerned, there is no difference to the times before and after where we are in Lancaster - they're saying 2:24 - but that's more or less what it's timetabled for anyway. It always seems a hell of a lot longer in those god-awful Pendolinos of Mr Bransons. too.
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Post by trubble on Dec 20, 2008 13:26:09 GMT
Italics = From wiki. Ireland's first railwayThe first railway, in 1834, was the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR) between Dublin and Kingstown (DĂșn Laoghaire), a distance of 10 km (6 mi). Due to local opposition the first terminus, Kingstown Harbour, was adjacent to the West Pier. It took a further three years before the line reached the site of the present station. (Present station: 500 yards from the West Pier.) The D&KR were notable in being one of the earliest dedicated commuter railways in the world. As well as the traffic survey showing existing volumes to be healthy, there was the potential from the ever expanding port at Kingstown. On 9 October 1834 the locomotive Hibernia brought a train the full route from the Westland Row terminus (now Pearse Station) to Kingstown. This journey took 20 minutes. The entire route forms part of the present day Dublin Area Rapid Transit electrified commuter rail system. The current DART journey takes...20 minutes (40 in rush hour). Ain't progress great?
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Post by Patrick on Dec 20, 2008 13:45:13 GMT
There have been some spiffing progs on lately on BBC4tv about Dr Beeching's cuts. One, where they have travelled on the nearest road route to compare travel times today to what the original journey by rail took.
People sit in their cars today for up to two hours longer than the axed train service. In one case someone jogged faster than the motorist!
Sums our attitude up nicely really!
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Post by trubble on Dec 20, 2008 13:52:09 GMT
Yes, those experiments are always funny. There was one done a few years ago that proved that you could walk from one side of Greater London to the other with your letter in your hand and beat the post office there. Btw, driving into Dublin from Dun Laoghaire takes 20 minutes too and 70 mins in rush hour. So the train wins every time. The Bus can take up to three days. (See previous discussion about the Number 8).
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Post by Patrick on Dec 20, 2008 14:00:11 GMT
I have, for the dangerous curiosity of it Googled the Number 8, and who'd have thought it eh?
Is it this one by any chance?
"THE Dalkey to City Centre No 8 bus service is to be re-introduced following a legal complaint in 2003 to the European Commission against the Irish Government.
Councillor Eugene Regan (FG) initiated a campaign in November 2003 to secure the return of the service with a formal complaint to the Commission. Cllr Regan put forward the view that the discontinuation of this service in 2000 by the public bus monopoly, Dublin Bus, was in conflict with EU competition rules.
"I promised in the local elections that I would seek the re-instatement of the No 8 through EU intervention," he said. "
EU intervention! Crikey! I would imagine that the "EU intervention" and subsequent meetings probably cost more than any subsidy that the bus might run on!
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Post by trubble on Dec 20, 2008 16:36:34 GMT
That's the one. Yes, I know you all think I ramble on about parochial concerns but now you can all see that I am talking about a bus service that has been internationally debated at the highest level.
Obama will sort it.
PS. Never never never mention that Regan name in my presence again.
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