Hope over experience

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
And still more from 'Not the 2014 show'...

'Transport planning will be much more effective if bodies such as Passenger Transport Executives and local authorities have clarity over more than five years. Ultimately, it will enable the industry to deliver what its customers want, and to do so more efficiently'.

Which was the aim of the 10 Year Transport Plan , now in its final, sadly unfulfilled, year.

Industries get into trouble when the last person retires who remembers the last great cock-up. And 2000 does seem a very long time ago.

Perhaps the authors of the new cultural revolution should read the manifesto of John Prescott's cultural revolution.

A little bit previous!

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
Yet more from Beyond 2014:

'The largest ever rail enhancement plan will be implemented in CP4',

One of the main features will be:

'introduction of Super Express trains, offering more seats on busy long distance routes'.

Routes plural?

By 2014?

The deal has still to reach financial close. And smart money is already on this being a replay of the Intercity 250 programme which bit the dust in the last recession.

By their stats shall you know them

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According to the Executive Summary of Planning Ahead - the industry's plan for 2014 and beyond:

The rail industry is a success. There are even more passengers than in 1946, on a network half the size, and these passengers are increasingly satisfied with their travel experience.

Rail freight has grown by more than 60 per cent since 1995.

But as Roger Ford points out in the May Informed Sources having grown back to the tonne kilometres generated in 1989, non-coal freight has been on a plateau since the turn of the century.

And if freight hasn't grown in seven years of unprecedented economic stability when will it?