Your blog post, 'Trashing Nature Pouring Concrete' is excellent. Do you support my suggestions, here, Jonathon?
Very nearly every tree, shrub and plant is now wiped out in this photo. Those in the corner, almost off the picture, survive.
This was done to bring trams on the UK's last, existing (not now because of trams arriving for Christmas!), principal mainline railway of ...
... that will bring trams to the major shopping centre in the Black Country, previously served by a monorail taking shoppers into the heart of the stores. The tram will leave them well over 100 metres from the main entrance.
Out of 3 West Midlands mainline railways down for trams, this one is the most important:
The first was destroyed in 1999 for Metro One and the second was going to have trams until that decision was reversed in 2016 to return the previously successful commuter trains. However, this is still not achieved after 9 years of three stations still being rebuilt.
Photos of the 2003 railway bridge (plans for a cycle-walkway, now!) over the London, Black Country, Edinburgh mainline railway near Brownhills, Staffordshire:
One track nicked by metal thieves!:-
There are tram networks or extensions planned for Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, West Midlands, Edinburgh and Nottingham. Railfuture and the Campaign for Better Transport has always fully supported trams and HS2 and FoE, too but, not quite so enamoured. Both modes must have vast quantities of very high GHG emitting concrete poured, and steel, to build them.
I think, the billions being spent on both modes could be better spent on Fare-Free Public Transport (as I've had for 17.5 years!) electric buses directly on roads without the railway lines having to be laid in concrete in the road for the "bus on rails" tram. "Bus on rails" was the phrase used by the UK Tram director when he was interviewed on the 'Today' programme in November 2016 at the time of the Croydon tram crash - "of 69 passengers, there were seven fatalities and 62 injured, 19 of whom sustained serious injuries." (Wikipedia)
UK Tram Ltd has its HQ in the Transport and Combined Authority HQ in Birmingham. Vested interests, improper influence, collusion all leading to corruption!
Tram construction is the second most expensive transport mode to construct after HS2. In addition, the subsidy every year for the Metro tram on 23 Kms is only slightly less than the subsidy for buses over 100s of miles in the West Midlands.
Cost in price = (or far worse) similar environmental cost from deadly GHG emissions because of our addiction to finite fossil fuel burning to maintain our so entitled, high-energy lifestyle.
Please explain, Jonathon, why I am wrong and you are right.
Best wishes and thanks for all you do on the ecological, environmental and social justice front (your brilliant stand over Palestine). You have my full support but, why is George Monbiot believing nuclear/fissile fuels is the lesser evil than finite fossil fuels?
No comments:
Post a Comment