Midlands Connect Marches transport conference

 Tim 3rd Feb 2023 11:35:28

Richard, It is brilliant to see a bike behind you. Ideally, we all need to travel by bike and bus - or not travel at all! I do, very largely except for holidays hillwalking in Scotland twice a year!

Midlands Connect top priority is trams! This is madness. Irresponsibly expensive and has destroyed two mainline railways and two and a quarter mainline stations.    timweller1@gmail.com

Tim 3rd Feb 2023 11:12:18

How do Philip Dunne and Peter Hendy work it out that High Scam 2, in giving plane like speed between three cities and two of their airports can possibly give more and faster travel by train throughout the Marches?  They must be deceiving us, if not lying which does seem surprising but, I can come to no other conclusion. PLEASE PUT ME RIGHT!

Dear Tim 

Thank you for your email following the Marches Transport Conference.

You asked how HS2 can help capacity growth on the Cardiff to Manchester line. My understanding is that this north/south route operates at present at or close to capacity given the volune of freight and passenger trains currently using this track, with its various pinch points.

By taking passenger capacity onto HS2, this will alleviate space for more passengers on the Cardiff to Manchester services.

With thanks for your interest

Philip

Rt Hon Philip Dunne MP

Tim 3rd Feb 2023 10:06:19

How is it that bus provision is always at the bottom of the pile and, so is always so poor?  Nothing ever changes apart from more and more grandiose projects like High Scam 2 and Metro and Sprint in Wolverhampton that proves money is instantly available for projects that boost prestige to impress visitors (and never shortage of funds to promote warfare!).  Nor for ordinary, regular bus services and their drivers.  Services that the vast majority of public transport users use!

Tim 3rd Feb 2023 09:59:27

Since you declared a UK wide climate emergency in 2019, how come you have all carried on regardless in line with your climate denial beliefs. Your actions speak louder than your impressive fine words.

Tim 3rd Feb 2023 09:54:30

How is the constant conversion of countryside to concrete, brick and tarmac consistent with living sustainably on a planet that is not expanding in line with our ever greedy demands placed upon it?

Tim 3rd Feb 2023 09:48:26

Am I right in thinking that if we had not turned our second mainline railway from Snow Hill, Wolverhampton Low Level to Shrewsbury into a tramline, but had used it for its intended purpose, train services would now be much better between those cities?

Tim 3rd Feb 2023 09:42:41

Are there now plans to extend the pedestrianisation in Shrewsbury town centre to give our county town the sort of top, first-rate, traffic free and classy shopping centre that Birmingham has had for decades?

Tim 3rd Feb 2023 09:24:33

How does High Scam 2 give more capacity for train services to run between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury, as we are reassured will happen?

Tim 3rd Feb 2023 09:16:40

There is only one north-south railway on the western side of Brum (Manchester to Cardiff), plus the mothballed/safeguarded 120 Kms principal, mainline Black Country Railway that runs from Worcester to Derby, also on the western side of Brum, why have you clean forgotten all about it? You have more than one on the eastern side, plus High Scam 2?

Tim 3rd Feb 2023 09:01:22

Why are you all giving top priority to rebuilding the tram network on the railway network at the most colossal expense in terms of both money and in worsening the climate emergency?  Why not put the commuter, regional and intercity trains back on the 120 Kms Black Country Railway "of national strategic significance"?  Do you realise you have destroyed two mainline stations and you seem unable to use platform 4 at Snow Hill station because your top wish is for more tram extensions?