Forum Topic

Government to cut £1bn from rail budget

The government has cut £1bn from the rail infrastructure budget following the chancellor's Spending Review.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55182000Perhaps not surprising, but not very good news.

Ivonne Holliday ● 1946d4 Comments

Seems to make sense to me if we're all going to keep WFH for at least a lot more of the time than we did before this year. Just wish HS2 would be cancelled but won't be holding my breath.

Oliver Sampson ● 1945d

Crossrail - the biggest engineering project in Europe - is getting some more money otherwise that would be sitting unfinished.The preference seems to be to bail out any number of private enterprises rather than subsidise anything.  Other European countries have better subsidised public transport.  There is a lot of lobbying that goes on from vested interests behind the scenes.

Philippa Bond ● 1945d

London is the economic cockpit of the UK so people will travel into it for work by whichever means they can.An ex-boss of mine in the late 90s used to drive from Southampton into our office by Lambeth Bridge every day because it was cheaper to do so than buying an annual railway ticket....

Ivonne Holliday ● 1946d

The model of people commuting further and further away via subsidised fares into London has never been a green one IMO. And at the same time one off returns for Leisure journeys being extortionate. A lot of these commutes couldn't possibly be done by car due to the time and cost so it is not a green replacement but a way of just feeding London.We desperately need a new plan for London. The main parties do not have a plan for the high street never mind cities!

Ed Robinson ● 1946d