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UK Transport
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As its title suggests UK Transport covers all aspects of transport in the UK. It is written from a libertarian perspective, in other words, that the less the State involves itself in the running, regulation or funding of roads, railways or anything else - the better.
 In association with the Libertarian Alliance Main Menu UK Transport Home UK Transport Extra Previous Posts Index Cuttings File Glossary Interesting Publications Links Briefing Notes The UK Railway A brief history of UK railways The Japanese System Why British Rail Privatisation failed Work in Progress A Libertarian Transport Manifesto Good Blogs Libertarian Samizdata Liberty Log Conservative Commentary Spangolink Public Interest UK Natalie Solent Freedom and Whisky Stephen Pollard A Libertarian Parent... Brian's Education Blog Lionel Mandrake Dodgeblog Edge of England's Sword Iain Dale Blogosophical Investigations Give War a Chance Airstrip One Random Jottings Why do they call me Mr Happy? Survival Arts Transport Friendly Blogs Kalyr.com Cold Spring Shops My Other Blogs CrozierVision Biased BBC Archives All correspondence is assumed to be publishable unless stated otherwise  
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Saturday, April 20, 2002
Accentuate the Negative, Disregard the Positive Passengers hit by rail delays. That's what the headline says so it must be bad news, right? No, wrong. Actually, it is a good news story. Chiltern Railways is actually laying a whole new piece of track. This will mean that the section between Banbury and Bicester is a double track. This is good because it means trains heading in opposite directions won't in future have to wait for one another. This will mean more services, faster services and more reliable services. But because the story in the UK right now is all gloom and doom of course the headline has to be about the unfortunate but unavoidable delay that is the inevitable consequence of carrying out this very useful work. Tossers. Friday, April 19, 2002
Transport Iberia Our friends at Spangolink explain how things are done (sort of) in Spain Imagine a hub (Madrid) with six spokes, pointing northwest to Valladolid/Galicia/Oporto/La Coruña, north to Burgos/Bilbao/Basque Country/France, northeast to Zaragoza/Barcelona/Catalonia/Costa Brava/France, east-southeast to Valencia/Alicante/Costa Blanca/Murcia, south to Córdoba/Sevilla/Costa del Sol/Cádiz/Málaga, and west-southwest to Badajoz/Lisbon/Portugal. Now imagine a wheel connecting the endpoints of those spokes. That's the traditional and correct model of land transport in Iberia. Today modern divided limited-access highways trace the spokes and wheel; the older ones, in Catalonia and the northeast, carry heavy tolls. Resentful Catalans often whine, whimper, and weep about this shockingly clear evidence of the perfidy of hated Madrid. The basic rail network also traces the spokes quite well, but the wheel fairly badly except along the France-Barcelona-Valencia-Murcia Mediterranean route. Now. Let's imagine that it's the mid-80s and you're introducing a high-speed rail network to Spain. What do you do first? Logical answer: Build the spoke connecting your hub (Madrid) to your sixth city, Zaragoza, and your second city, Barcelona, also a sea and air hub, which would then go on to link with the high-speed network of your biggest neighbor, TGV pioneer France. Spanish answer: Build the spoke to your fifth city, Sevilla, because they were having a World's Fair there in 1992 and because the PM at the time, Felipe González, is from there. Then get working on that Madrid-Barcelona-France spoke sometime or another, like maybe so it'll be done as far as Zaragoza by 2005 or so. Originally published by Spangolink. Reproduced with permission. Flights to London to double Well, what do you expect? People want to come to London and Londoners, having earnt a packet want to spend it on holidays in the sun. But, of course, this is not going to be presented as good news or a sign of progress but as an opportunity to whip up fears about noise. I have an interest in this. I live underneath the flight path at Heathrow. When most planes fly over the TV goes funny and when Concorde flies over I have to explain to anyone on the phone that they'll have to wait because I can't hear a word they are saying. Heathrow and its planes are a minor inconvenience to me. A doubling of flights would be a slightly bigger minor inconvenience. If there is to be such a doubling I would like to receive some form of compensation but in the crazy world of statist economics this possibility doesn't exist. The only way potential losers can fight is by opposing ALL development. This is done through local councils who hire armies of lawyers to fight the airport and its army of lawyers. The whole thing lasts an age an at the end of the day everybody loses. If, on the other hand, the airport just built the facilities and asked a court to sort out the compensation, not only would we get the extra capacity in double quick time but us locals would not feel so put out. So, why doesn't it happen? Beats me. Read This In his blog from yesterday Tim Evans listed a number of articles related to road privatisation including this one by Brian Micklethwait. For some reason I had overlooked it. Damn. It really is very good. It looks at many aspects of how private provision would work and does it very well. Rather better, in fact, than I have done here. Double damn. I don't know what Brian's talent is. I suppose it is the ability to put down in writing what the rest of us think. Sounds easy but it isn't. The only consolation is that Brian admits that it took him two years (on and off) to produce. So, the rest of us don't have to feel completely inadequate. Thursday, April 18, 2002
Miscellaneous Index Prior Planning and Preparation Produces Piss-Poor Performance British Airways Goes Budget Abolish the Ministry of Transport Flights to London to double Airport Landing Rights Should we fear the EasyJet/Go Merger? Air Traffic Control - delays across the UK The dynamics of the relationship between the state and free enterprise - the bigger the state the worse it gets. Pile-up on the ranting super-highway - private roads also have rules. Our nuthead safety fascists...anti-car stupidity is not confined to the UK. That Transport Plan - MPs savaage the Government's Transport "Plan" More on the rules of the private road - James Haney on how bad things are in Texas Road tolls seen as tax on business - why tolls are good for you. Utilities fight hole-in-road charges Abolish the Department of Transport On helmets for cyclists Public and private transport (generally speaking) do not compete A Libertarian Transport Manifesto L'affaire Sixsmith - or why spin no longer works Now here's a challenge... - one person wonders what all the fuss is about The car share to nowhere - why they won't work and what the alternative is Apologies Connex In an article I wrote about Connex a month ago or so, readers may have got the impression that I thought the organisation was on a downhill path to nowhere in particular. Last night I went along to a Railway Study Association lecture given by Olivier Brousse, Connex's Chief Executive, and now I am not so sure. Brousse gave the impression of being a man in charge of his business. In my earlier article I said that I felt that getting railways right was about getting a whole bunch of small things right and - hey presto - that is exactly what Brousse talked about. In the two years since he took over they have improved depot procedures, cleaning, staff rostering, staff training, staff conditions, communications between signal boxes and control centres and introduced co-operative working practices with Railtrack. They have decided to start listening and communicating with staff. They undertake an annual staff survey, publish an internal newsletter, gave staff money to spend on mess rooms and allowed staff to design their own uniforms. Over the last few months I had been wondering why Connex no longer appeared at the bottom of punctuality league tables. Now I know why - it's improved. At some point Connex realised that rather than concentrate on profits it was time to concentrate on the business. This is a point that Michael Gerber and many others have made - concentrate on your system and profits will follow. As it happens Connex profits have not followed - yet. And there are still all sorts of problems but they are likely to be in a stronger position in the long term. Brousse also made an interesting point about safety. He said "Even a minor derailment or a collision can cost a fortune. I mean millions." That would appear to echo what I have said in the past about how expensive accidents can be. There were a few other gems. People (including me) often complain about the fragmented nature of Britain's railways. According to an SNCF (French railways) friend of Brousse, there the fragmentation is on the inside. SNCF may be one company but that does not mean that the different bits talk to one another. Connex seems to have made the decision to bury the hatchet with Railtrack. Which is odd because that is exactly what seems to be happening between Railtrack and its maintenance contractors. Maybe, just maybe Britain's railway is starting to sort itself out. April News Stories I know I haven't published for a while but I have been reading the papers so here is a list of the stories I have noticed: Rail Blaze cripples Liverpool St Rail safety options announced Germans recreate little bit of England Two killed in California train crash Worried banks put bid for Railtrack at risk Why rail legal ticket's a sticky wicket (scroll down to end) Crossrail back on track 'Paddington trauma made me kill' New £3.5bn rail safety system 'will cost lives' Rail safety system under fire US groups plot £20bn rail deal Delayed report shows Byers is failing to fulfil transport goals Glass graffiti craze could halt trains Analysis: Safety issue adds to Amtrak woes NHS 'doctor' could be a sick joke [includes section about the treatment of the Rail Regulator] US train crash kills three Rail firm writes Winsor fears into contract Regulatory buffer Commuters: Don't ever expect a seat Effect of a new North-South railway Fast train to Provence puts Britain to shame WestLB 'set to drop Railtrack bid' Railtrack investors to reject compensation and sue Byers 100 left on tracks as train splits in middle Railtrack payout Cash plea to boost West Country rail 200mph dream of North-South railway to end roads gridlock Commuters 'expect lasting chaos' Rail safety system costs 'soar' Rail link slammed over advert claims Wrong Track - The Spectator The track controller - Interview with Chairman of Network Rail Christian Wolmar: £300m is worth it to get railways heading for the right destination Other North Circular roars into first place The biggest hole in the road yet 'A tidal wave' of road restrictions BA in new cuts as bmi suffers Blackwall Tunnel safety slammed Heathrow pollution extends 17 miles In the Easyjet stream of a serial entrepreneur Flights to London to double Challenge of 'fly-by-nights' that fly all over |