View Single Post
Unread 18-06-2019, 12:08   #3
James Shields
Member
 
James Shields's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Drogheda, Ireland
Posts: 1,275
Default

I think there's some very good stuff in the plan, but I agree it's disappointing that there isn't more mention of rail.

I'm not sure it's the place to get into specifics of routes, but a commitment to increase capacity, improving journey times, and reducing road journeys in private cars.

I think electrification is less important for climate goals than people might thing. Even if all our trains remain diesel, moving large numbers of commuters from cars to rail would result in massive reductions in emissions. However, after the initial installation cost, electrification reduces costs (of rolling stock, and of fuel and maintenance), and significantly improves reliability.

There seems to be a lot of emphasis on electric vehicles, which I think are an important part of the solution, but we need to massively reduce the number of car journeys we make, not just transfer them to electric cars.
James Shields is offline   Reply With Quote