In the news

Many 10s of acres of ancient woodlands.

Imagine if that money was invested in improving railway infrastructure across the country.

Yes and no.

The entire railway infrastructure need to be brought back up to modern standard, looking at Austria whose railways is amazing and cheap.

Having HS2 actually have an advantage for the commuter line freeing up space to have more trains running at peak time, leaving the HS2 as a dedicated fast commuter.

Also will help with freight being able to share the line with the commuter too.

Imagine if that money was invested in improving railway infrastructure across the country.

You’d get nothing. Lots of consultants fees, but nothing.

Not much use if you want to commute east/west though.

HS2 is the very antithesis of a fast commuter service. It was supposed to be Euston - Birmingham- Manchester with no intervening stops.

Remember, in the world of HS2 everyone is commuting to London.

I am currently in Sheffield station. Looks like all Transpennine Express services cancelled. No delays to get to London though.

But not now from the north west or beyond Leicester towards Leeds.

Down here in outer north west London, even when HS2 was 'only' going to cost £50bn the suggestion was to demolish Birmingham and build it 20 minutes closer.

People might actually be able to cross the Pennines by train reliably.

Why would anybody want to go to Yorkshire from Lancashire?

I am currently in Sheffield station. Looks like all Transpennine Express services cancelled. No delays to get to London though.

Sheffield was great to get to in only 2 hours, however the price is so high, even with my Disabled railcard, it was cheaper for my partner to drive and we split the petrol.

£79 day return (peak morning hours), advance tickets, I can't drive so not much alternative and I wouldn't fancy driving today in any case it's been non-stop snowing all day here.

Why would anybody want to go to Yorkshire from Lancashire?

Returning Missionaries.

Neither can I, we basically need to a Beeching Reverse.

Tbf, 4 minutes to go from W.London to Birmingham will be pretty impressive

HS2 trains are scheduled to carry the first passengers between Old Oak Common station in West London and Birmingham, between 2029 and 2033.

[Trollface.jpg]

The point is that all the fast intercity trains go on HS2 and no longer have to slow down for the slower commuter trains with which they currently share a line. It's actually a sound plan, but it not getting beyond Brum renders it pretty pointless. Better rail services in the north would be more useful.

...aaand I just automatically tapped my bank card at the st pancras ticket barrier. FFS. Guess I'll be calling EMR in the morning...

^^ the Macc / Cheadle / Levvy rail crew are all miffed for this reason.

Active travel funding cuts are buried in the news there too, the fuckers.

Culture wars and wedge issues can fuck right off

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/mar/10/gary-lineker-step-back-match-of-the-day-bbc

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/mar/10/david-attenborough-bbc-wild-isles-episode-rightwing-backlash-fears

So add to that, fuck the BBC then.

Soon to the the CBC

Conservative Broadcast Channel.

I thought the Tories despised cancel culture?

the inflection point is ominously consistent: 2010 give or take a year or two — when smartphones went from luxury to ubiquity...."

Smartphones and social media are destroying children’s mental health
https://www.ft.com/content/0e2f6f8e-bb03-4fa7-8864-f48f576167d2

Blame that on TPX, the TOC. The infrastructure is fine, but TPX are a motherfucking disgrace.

No great hardship to boycott MoTD until Gary Lineker is restored as the host.

One of my wife's good friends is a paediatric nurse and has been for 30 years. We were talking about this last time she stayed.

She said when she started working the children's wards were full of physically sick children but now a large percentage of her patients are self-harm/eating disorder/attempted suicide patients. She is adamant that social media is the main contributing factor for the shift.

Absolutely tragic.