Birmingham Transport

[brum2003]

Martin G has hot the nail on the head, Central Government see's transport in the regions as a VERY low priority, the hopps and hurdles thats have to be jumped through, and even the then the schemes are not funded !!!

Its typical of the short term attitude to development and infrastructure in this country...whoever is in power and the whitehall civil servants, think in FIVE year chunks. As much as Birminghams new administration have tried to scupper the metro, in reality the city should have had a full system up and running by now, after all its been on the drawing board for 20 years. Could you see any scheme taking this long in supposedly poorer countries like Spain and Italy ?

[woodhousen]

i still cant believe the comparison between ourselves and other countries.

i visit leipzig in eastern germany quite a bit. one thing to note however is that shit loads of money is being pumped intot the area to try and compensate for the communist era east gemany had to bring it up to scratch with west germany.

....anyway, within the last 5 years i have been visiting the city, the aiport has doubled in size, a brand new refurbished railway station and new high speed railway line and in entire brand new uderground system............ all of this did not exsist 5 years ago and are now all fully operational...........WTF!

[Steve-e-b]

Originally Posted by woodhousen

....anyway, within the last 5 years i have been visiting the city, the aiport has doubled in size, a brand new refurbished railway station and new high speed railway line and in entire brand new uderground system............ all of this did not exsist 5 years ago and are now all fully operational...........WTF!

This comes down to 2 things: the lack of guts shown by our politicians and the British public's incessant moaning against progress.

Politicians don't take the right decision, they take the popular decision. Whatever keeps the public happy and that gets them back into power.
Our governments, local and central, need to stand up and say, "this is what's best, so this is what we're going to do". Then explain why it's best - persuade the public and lead (afterall, we did vote them to be our leaders).
When the job is done, the public can vote them out if they don't like the end result.

On the flip side, there are the people who moan about any change, no matter how justified and necessary. New St, for example, should have been levelled and the area rebuilt within a year. It's not being done like that because too many people would moan about the disruption. I wish those people who don't want to be inconvenienced while we built a better world would fuck off into their own little shitty world and stay there. Then they wouldn't have anything to moan about.

[pirlo_21]

would a rebuild of new street take only a year really?? if so thats surley a better idea than six years

[Biosonic]

Even if they could suspend all rail services (which would paralyse over half of Britain's rail network), New St would take, I would guess, at least 3 years to rebuild. And that would put virtually every other major project in the West Midlands on hold as the number of people required would be vast.

This way New St will take longer - but they can keep the station open and other projects on the go. I heard the figure 7 years being bandied around, with a start of 2008, but then London winning the Olympics changed all that....

[pirlo_21]

thanks for that, just hope they get moving by the end of the year on the station

[Steve-e-b]

Having no knowledge of construction, 1 year was just a figure I plucked out the air. It was very optimistic, but other cities do get similar jobs done by intensive effort.
Myself, I would rather bare the pain and get it all over and done with in the shortest time possible. Obviously not with suspended services, but trains re-routed and then shuttle bus services in place where necessary. But that would not be a popular move.

Originally Posted by Biosonic

I heard the figure 7 years being bandied around, with a start of 2008, but then London winning the Olympics changed all that....

It's good to hear London's olympic success is already having an affect here.

[Nacho]

I found this on the net and I thought it might be interesting for this thread.This was the three line plan.Powers were obtained for the lines but central government wouldn't stump up the money.The city stations are underground.The Airport Line would have emerged in Gosta Green and Line One would have surfaced at Snow Hill.There would have been two tunnels.Central government at the time (same as the present government) thought it too costly.The local council and Centro didn't renew the powers and adopted the "bit-size" idea;to go for smaller options not exceeding 90 million pounds.Now things have changed again.

[Zenith]

....anyway, within the last 5 years i have been visiting the city, the aiport has doubled in size, a brand new refurbished railway station and new high speed railway line and in entire brand new uderground system............ all of this did not exsist 5 years ago and are now all fully operational...........WTF!

Yes 4th richest country lol it makes me sick

[brum2003]

hey, zenith we are the fourth largest economy, not the fourth richest country....we rank somewhere in the middle for investment and in some cases near the bottom......

yeah it makes me sick too xx

[Metrolink]

Been away on hols and only just found this thread.

Now there's a surprise - you aren't going to be getting an underground - big shock.

Those people who continually said 'lets just wait until the report is published' do you now accept that this was simply a politically motivated delay to the construction of the street running trams that was never ever going to get the go ahead.

£2bn - with two stations in the city centre - how on earth was this ever going to reduce door to door times and be cost effective.

[pirlo_21]

how to solve the problem of overcrowded train services through new street??

SIMPLE LETS PUT THE FUCKING FARE UP TO DISCORAGE PEOPLE !

HAVING JUST READ THIS IN THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS, I CANT BELIEVE THEY THINK THIS IS THE ANSWER, PEOPLE USE THE TRAIN AT PEAK PERIODS FOO A REASON

[woodhousen]

hmmmmmmmmmm

Lack of light rail surprises expert Aug 30 2005




By Campbell Docherty, Transport Correspondent


One of Europe's most prominent transport experts has expressed surprise that Birmingham still does not have a light rail network.

Ton Kaper, passenger transport boss in The Hague, Netherlands, said the city and surrounding conurbation was suffering from political decisions made in the 1980s, when government transport subsidies were cut before new infrastructure was in place.

Mr Kaper was in Birmingham for a committee meeting of the International Association of Public Transport, a Europe-wide transport body currently vice-chaired by West Midlands executive Centro.

He said he had not been able to see much of the conurbation's transport systems but admitted the lack of a light-rail network was noticeable.

"Surprise is the word I think," he told The Birmingham Post.

"A city the size of Birmingham should have a light-rail system without any problem, it is certainly big enough to accommodate it.

"I have seen the Metro system from Wolverhampton to Snow Hill and I think it is a shame that it ends at the railway station because light-rail is very good at penetrating the city centre.

"I believe there are plans to extend the metro line into the city centre, to Victoria Square and so on and I think this is a very good idea."

The Midland Metro network has two new lines - one through central Birmingham and one serving Brierley Hill - waiting to be built.

Birmingham City Council has still to announce whether or not it backs the street-level trams or if it is to press ahead with an underground system of its own.

Mr Kaper recognised the difficulties UK authorities had in building major transport schemes.

"In the UK, you have had deregulation and privatisation ending big transport subsidies since the mid 1980s and that means you have all the advantages of not paying so much tax.

"But it also means it is difficult to build major transport projects, it needs longstanding relationships between operators and authorities.

"I would say that it is unfortunate that the UK deregulated and privatised before major new pieces of infrastructure were in place for cities like Birmingham."

[Zenith]

Birmingham City Council has still to announce whether or not it backs the street-level trams or if it is to press ahead with an underground system of its own.

wankers

[woodhousen]

but do they really need to make an anouncement when they said it would cost over £2,000,000,000 to build one underground line with 2 stations lol

[Nacho]

£315,000 clean up on trains Sep 7 2005
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::



By Ben Hurst, Transport Correspondent, Evening Mail


SOME of Birmingham's trains are so filthy that transport bosses admit they even look dirty after they've been cleaned.

The Class 150 diesel trains have been described as a "disgrace" and the "Betamax" of the railways - named after the ill-fated video player of the 1980s.

The 150s have been in service for the last 20 years - and public transport promoter Centro says they have not been spruced up in that time. Transport leaders admit that they could well be in service for another 20 years.

The latest admission came from Birmingham's Centro today as it launched a £315,000 plan to try to spruce up the commuter trains.

A further £400,000 will be spent by Central Trains together with £700,000 from leasing company Angel Trains on further improvements.

Centro's money will be spent on reflooring the 74 Class 150s, together with new tip up seats for nine 150s transferred to Central Trains from Anglia.

A Centro report said: "Most of the interior of the class 150 trains has not changed or upgraded since the trains were first introduced more than 20 years ago.

"As a result the interior of these trains, especially the floor areas is looking shabby and in urgent need of enhancement.

"Whilst the new seat covers have had a significant impact on the passenger ambiance, the overall appearance of the train interiors is still let down by worn dirty grey flooring, which looks dirty even when clean."

The class 150 serves the Stourbridge, Shirley, Solihull and Walsall lines into Birmingham New Street and Snow Hill.

Alan Bevan, from Rail Future, said: "It is certainly welcome that these trains are being improved as they are pretty decrepit, but we would really like to see them replaced completely."

Two years ago Coun Stewart Stacey, then vice-chairman of the West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority, awarded the trains "nul points".

He made the comment after the disastrous out of tune performance by UK entry Jemini, who finished last in the Eurovision Song Contest.

[woodhousen]

...thank god for that, i used to catch these trains every day for two years on my sommute from stourbridge to snow hill...they are truly awful!

[pirlo_21]

what about us poor sould on the birmingham to coventry line??? we have to suffer those annoying tv screens

[Nacho]

Date: 07-Sep-05
Category: News : Midland Metro
Contact: Barton, Mik - mikbarton@centro.org.uk

Smoother tram ride welcomed

Public transport bosses have welcomed work by the operator of the Midland Metro to make the tram ride through West Bromwich smoother and quieter.

Specialist track maintenance is now underway and set to continue for the next few weeks. The work will take place overnight and only cause minimal disruptions to services on two Sunday mornings.

The operator has given the assurance of a better ride following recent complaints by members of the watchdog West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority (PTA).

“The noise problem is due to wear and tear on the track and wheels, which is to be expected from such a heavily-used system,” says Cllr Roger Horton, Metro lead member on the PTA. “Travel Midland Metro runs more than 98 per cent of journeys on time and the number of passengers is growing so that’s all good news. We just want a smoother ride as well.”

Wheels on the critical centre section of Midland Metro trams are now ‘re-profiled’ more regularly as part of routine maintenance. To smooth some of the rails on the six year-old network, tram operator Travel Midland Metro has also called in specialist equipment which is based in mainland Europe and had to be booked well in advance. Costs for the rail grinding equipment to visit the UK are being shared with London Trams, as similar work is required on the capital’s tram network.

[morestoreysplease]

The TV screens started on the Cross City Line (first in the UK) but are not working anymore because the news agency (Onboard) went bust! I'd thought Central News could have invested in the service.