28 January 2015 ITA mtg flyer

End 34 years of apathy, drift, indecision, fudging and failure over Midland Metro trams.

You wanted a dozen tram lines throughout the West Midlands.

They have NOT been built - anywhere!

One tram line, on almost all of a passenger rail line that you should never have closed, is very poor performance.

GET A GRIP AND RAISE YOUR GAME, LEADERS.

Reject today's report for a review of Metro - more time wasting.

STOP wasting our taxes.

Instruct your officers to scrap Metro and to work on URGENTLY re-opening our urban passenger rail lines and rebuilding the stations.

STAND UP to Network Rail and order them to co-operate with you.

Send a delegation to see George Osborne and Patrick McLoughlin to get them to make the funds available for something worthwhile, at long last:

45 MILES OF UNUSED OR UNDERUSED DOUBLE TRACK RAIL LINES IN BIRMINGHAM AND THE BLACK COUNTRY MUST BE FULLY USED - for commuters and inter-city passengers.

Position statement on rail re-openings

The VLR project to go at the former Brierley Hill Steel terminal site on Moor Street, with the extra 1 Km of line, instead of preventing, for ever, the return of inter-city and local trains to our last remaining, UK north-south, high speed line.

There is no need for Dudley Council and ITA/Centro to shuttle passengers to the high speed line in the neighbouring borough (Dudley Port in Sandwell) when, in so doing, they destroy their own high speed line they are using to shuttle the passengers the one mile.

They should use their own high speed line (Stourbridge, Dudley, Walsall, Lichfield) to increase rail capacity and to reduce road and rail congestion.

Please get down to, urgently re-opening all our 72 Km of former passenger lines in Birmingham and the Black Country, instead of keeping them for freight only and for LR and, now, VLR tram projects that never, ever materialise.

Where is the morality in your policy of keeping unused, double track rail lines, devoid of trains and stations, alongside bumper to bumper commuter traffic?  This is literally the case in Dudley and Birmingham.  This is your long term strategy and has been for decades.  Will you change it, please?

For me, it is a scandal that we are spending £100 million per mile for Midland Metro extensions in Brum city centre and £54 million per mile for Wolverhampton but, only £10 million per mile for the return of passenger trains, rail structures and stations (the 29 miles costing £294 million for a rural rail line reopening, this September) in southern Scotland!!  What on earth is going on in this supposed age of austerity, of prudent use of depleting resources and of frightening, human caused climate change?

Am I right in thinking that all UK rail groups support your policies, plans and priorities?  Please give me their names.

Why was there no public consultation over VLR (while still keeping LR) for the Black Country inter-city Line?

Trains Back on the Tracks - Briefing Paper

BACKGROUND BRIEF:

Please could you consider using your position and influence to help to re-open the Black Country inter-city Rail Line?

Could you help to re-open our Dudley borough's, mothballed, 13 miles (21 Km) inter-city and local train line and, to stop the present plan to use one mile of it to shuttle passengers' to the inter-city line in the neighbouring borough?  The present plan will destroy forever, what was, for about 100 years, a successful passenger line!

SUMMARY:

Did you know that in 34 years, the West Midland councils have opened only one Metro tram line out of a dozen or so that they wanted and spent much taxpayers' money trying to get?  Did you know that that one line finally gets completed this year?

Did you know about the 72 Km of freight lines in Brum and the Black Country that all had passenger trains for 100 years until 50 years ago?

Do you not think that they need top priority over tram lines with which the councils have failed to deliver any (apart from the one on a rail line they should never have closed) over these last 34 years?

Do you not think that chronic road and rail congestion at and around New Street Station could be alleviated by re-opening the Black Country Rail Line for inter-urban and local trains through the heart of three Black Country boroughs?  Ideally, extending it to Lichfield, of course, on National Cycle Route 5.

Why not take some of the pressure off Grand Central/New St Sta?  In this way, the councils would improve the passenger experience in giving us the choice, in the Black Country, of going to London and Scotland by either the Black Country or by Brum.  We would have a direct connection to the south and north of the UK by going via the Black Country boroughs on our own reinstated inter-city line!

Did you know that all of that continues to be lost with 34 years of light rail Metro trams (never achieved) and, now VERY light rail trams being introduced as a shuttle service on only 2 Km of the 21 Km Black Country Line?  Below is a map to show the 72 Km of freight only lines and missing stations in our congested conurbation.  Read more in my 'Horrible History ...'.

 Absent trains, stations.JPG

 One horrible history ...

Increasing rail capacity does not need to wait until 2026 and HS2!

Many thanks if you feel able to help - and, to help us all to get around with a little less congestion on our road and rail networks!

Tim

Righteous Israel; unholy, wicked Palestinians

All your e-mails you send me show Israel in the best possible light but the Palestinians in the worst possible light.  Israel is always so holy and angelic, always on the side of the Lord and the righteous but, the Palestinians are on the side of the devil and are evil incarnate.

Is this not misleading?  Is it not unhelpful and simply creates more bitterness and hatred by some towards Israel?

Should we not be looking at our own behaviour in the Christian, democratic West and be a little more self-critical, a little more ashamed and, certainly, repentant?

Do you not think you are somewhat biased?

The Scriptures tell us "thinking of others as better than ourselves"  Phil 2 v 3  Is there not anything that Israel and the Israelis can do to improve relations with the Gazans and Palestinians?  

How sad that Israel cannot live in peace and harmony with all their neighbours.  Israeli terrorist gangs first attacked Britain in the 40s, followed by the IDF attacking Egypt and Jordan in the 50s, 60s, 70s then Lebanon and now Gaza with war threatened against Iran at any moment.  Apart from the members of NATO (with so much warfare in far off lands since 1945), no other country in the world has such an abysmal record of threatening death and destruction and, actual killing and warring against their neighbours.

What is the matter with us?

e-mail to Cllr Tahir Ali, responsible for Birmingham transport

Did you know that in 34 years, you and your predecessors have opened only one Metro tram line out of a dozen or so that you wanted and spent much taxpayers' money trying to get?  Did you know that that one line finally gets completed this year?

Did you know about the 72 Km of freight lines in Brum and the Black Country that all had passenger trains for 100 years until 50 years ago?

Do you not think that they need top priority over tram lines with which you have failed to deliver any(apart from the one on a rail line you should never have closed) over these last 34 years?

Do you not think that chronic road and rail congestion at and around New Street Station could be alleviated by re-opening the Black Country Rail Line for inter-urban and local trains through the heart of three Black Country boroughs?  Ideally, extending it to Lichfield, of course on NCR 5.

Why not take some of the pressure off New Street Shopping Centre and Station?  In this way, you would improve the passenger experience in giving us the choice, in the Black Country, of going to London and Scotland by either the Black Country or by Brum.  We would have a direct connection to the south and north of the UK by going via the Black Country boroughs on our own reinstated inter-city line!

Increasing rail capacity cannot wait until 2026 and HS2!

Did you know that all of that is about to be lost with VERY LIGHT TRAMS being introduced on only 2 Km of the 21 Km Black Country Line?  Read more in my 'Horrible History ...'.

ANOMALY, ABERRATION, ABSURDITY!

PLEASE COVER THIS TRANSPORT ANOMALY, ABERRATION, ABSURDITY:

Capacity on our West Midlands rail network is still being denied and road and rail congestion is deliberately worsened, because:

50 years of 72 Km of double track rail line in Birmingham and the Black Country but NO passenger trains and stations.  The previous 100 years saw passenger trains and stations on ALL these lines.

Now, 21 Km (of the 72 Km) of a fast and local train line are to be destroyed to shuttle passengers for all of 2 Km on this line, from Dudley Castle Hill, to the next inter-city line in the neighbouring borough.  We are STILL not allowed to use our own nationally vital line but can only be shuttled to the nearby one that crosses ours at Dudley Port in the borough of Sandwell!  Our 21 Km Black Country inter-city Line runs from Stourbridge Junction, in the borough of Dudley, through the demolished Dudley Castle Hill station, onto the West Coast Mainline station at Dudley Port and then to Walsall.

We, in Dudley are STILL not allowed to have our own direct connection to London, Bristol and Scotland!  We are being forced to go via either rail and road congested New St Station in Birmingham or to go via Wolverhampton.  What IS the sense in that?

PLEASE COVER THIS SCANDAL!