The Rail User Express. We Continue with the Usual Roundup of News
June 2017 Welcome to the Rail User Express. Feel free to forward it to a colleague, or to reproduce items in your own newsletter (quoting sources). For further detail of any of the stories mentioned, consult the relevant website, or come back to me for the source material. Please say if you no longer wish to receive Rail User Express, or if you know of anyone who would like to be added to the circulation list. I do try to keep politics out of RUEx, but since the election they have intruded into every sphere of activity. On the one hand, we don’t have to bring a whole new government up to speed, and Chris Grayling has retained his position as Secretary of State for Transport. However, the danger is that anything the least bit controversial will be shelved. We need to continue to lobby vigorously for what needs to be done. Roger Smith We continue with the usual roundup of news items from groups around the UK. Please keep your contributions coming: they are all gratefully received. Friends of the Far North Line FoFNL contrasts the £3 billion spent on dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness to save about 20mins with the lack of funding for the Highland Main Line, which is beset with single line working. The fastest train from Edinburgh to Perth (1334) takes 76 mins, 11 mins longer than in 1895! Refurbished 40 year old HSTs will offer some improvement from 2018, but the diesel engines in the current design of bi-mode trains could not cope with the HML gradients.
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