Johnson was as committed to Northern Powerhouse Rail as he had been to Crossrail

And this is where comparisons with Spain, France and other 'larger' countries doesn't count for much. I can understand a hi-speed train from, say London to Edinburgh with a stop in York, perhaps, but the distances between major cities in the UK are too small for a high speed train. We need reliable and modern railway system up here- pretty much like the one that whizzes about the southern and home counties!

Land size of Netherlands - 42,000 sq kms. High speed rail 2.9%

Land size of UK - 240,000 sq kms. High speed rail 0.7%

It‘s also about capacity and affordability.
 
Basically, London is holding the government hostage to upgrade their transport system so they had a choice. Johnson losing support in London and his Home Counties or not following through with his promises to level up.

I think we should change our boundaries and just be called the ‘North’, side with Scotland and get Burnham in instead of Studgeon.
 
Land size of Netherlands - 42,000 sq kms. High speed rail 2.9%

Land size of UK - 240,000 sq kms. High speed rail 0.7%

It‘s also about capacity and affordability.
It's extremely difficult to have very high-speed rail here because of the geography and historic lines. The lines we already have are not straight and level for long periods so a train pelting by at 150mph+ would crash. The weather is also awful for 6-8 months of the year so chances are you won't be moving fast most of the time anyway.

We could build new lines as with HS2 but you still have the same problems and you cannot just bulldoze everything in your way to make the lines straight. They are trying but that's why the project is going to cost us all £100's of billions.

Rail here is just like our broadband network, it's based upon centuries old infrastructure which has to be replaced completely before it can be improved and that's expensive. For other countries it's different as they have less developed populations and could start almost from scratch in some cases.
 
Shapps lying through his fucking teeth on sky news right now.

Utterly disgraceful.
 
Rail here is just like our broadband network, it's based upon centuries old infrastructure which has to be replaced completely before it can be improved and that's expensive. For other countries it's different as they have less developed populations and could start almost from scratch in some cases.
That Victorian broadband network isn’t great is it?
 

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