tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27589444.post1978393263875417953..comments2023-08-22T16:18:38.393+01:00Comments on Rail Thing - Friends of the S&D: ostriches, dinosaurs or just plain mad?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27589444.post-35294288501988562292011-03-31T13:11:28.619+01:002011-03-31T13:11:28.619+01:00Reading it again and bearing these comments in min...Reading it again and bearing these comments in mind I think this is a classic case of a newspaper pitching the story in such a way to make it read almost the opposite to what is actually being proposed. Never having been a Telegraph reader for obvious reasons it took a while to get this!<br /><br />No doubt a read of the whole proposal would show how the EU are thinking the future through - and no doubt the sense of such a proposal would have been way over the average Telegraph journalist and reader's head!<br /><br />Certainly the proposals for the winding down of short haul flights and the pushing of rail travel for these journeys has to be a good thing, but this will all happen in any case as a reaction to the price signals that will arise as Peak Energy hits harder and harder. Personally we're already planning a future where we'll hardly fly at all and where the train will be our normal form of transport to get anywhere, not just on holiday! But there's going to have to be an awful lot of new infrastructure (ie new lines, not just improvements to existing routes) before that becomes the norm.Steve Sainsburyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12024394243500109831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27589444.post-32872724840322966402011-03-31T11:38:19.279+01:002011-03-31T11:38:19.279+01:00I completely agree with the fist post here - its g...I completely agree with the fist post here - its great that the EU are looking to the future and trying to plan for a car free future, and get some concrete progress going, and it is a shame our government voted against the proposals (under pressure from the Torygraph et al).willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05298414522236556914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27589444.post-76672962448999349862011-03-31T07:39:00.429+01:002011-03-31T07:39:00.429+01:00Yes, I thought it was sad that the only quotes the...Yes, I thought it was sad that the only quotes they could get were from backwards looking fringe nutters - obviously everyone else had far more important and relevant things to talk about. Shame they didn't ask me for a quote!<br /><br />The Eurocrats who believe that there will still be petrol and diesel cars in 2050 surely have a lot more in common with UKIP and car driver groups than they realise!Steve Sainsburyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12024394243500109831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27589444.post-55624743455365716942011-03-30T19:51:59.652+01:002011-03-30T19:51:59.652+01:00I think there's a danger of over reaction to t...I think there's a danger of over reaction to this. It's good that the EU is positive about sustainable transport, irrespective of your views about the nature of the organisation itself. Moreover it's right that they should consider a future without cars and cheap mobility, so what's the fuss?<br /><br />It seems to me the EU is being positive about engaging with the issues of long term oil supply - I consider their ideas a good basis for discussion, which will benefit from greater awareness of peak oil issues, but it's hardly ostriches and dinosaurs.<br /><br />It's not pie in the sky either, because we all know that modal shift is a large scale issue and will take time. It's pretty clear to everyone how far the UK government has got in reducing car use since it stopped predicting demand and providing capacity in the early 1990s: nowhere. OK, so peak oil may/will speed things up but in the end it will just enforce the oil price rises in a different way to the EU's planned taxation, resulting in a similar situation.<br /><br />It's a shame, though, that the Telegraph lowers the standards of journalism by quoting unrepresentative and trivial niche groups like ABD (and UKIP?) when they could ask some qualified industry or professional groups.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com