Work has been the cause of taking me on journeys to and from Hertfordshire from Macclesfield over the last few months. Parts of those are made on First Capital Connect trains between London King’s Cross and Hatfield. It’s the passage at speed through tunnels that has inspired for the title.
It seems that there is a pressure change on passing through every one that is reminiscent of air travel and it isn’t pleasant for ones ears, or mine at least. Though the southeast of England not that hilly, the East Coast Mainline seems to pass through its share of tunnels as it goes through Greater London and Hertfordshire. The ones between Hatfield and Hitchin never are perceptible but the same cannot be said for those south of Hatfield. Quite how no comment has arisen about them is a little beyond though there are other causes for complaint such as how busy these trains can be, having to stand can be common depending on when you travel.
When I had cause to travel between Edinburgh and London, I cannot recall my ears “popping” on going through tunnels near London but the air conditioning on those trains may cancel out the effect and there were other concerns in my mind back then; interviews for first jobs after university were what drew me down from Scotland on day return itineraries. Then, I wouldn’t realise quiet how unsettling it is to see trains travelling a breakneck speed through commuter stations because it was so far in the future.
That last fact may explain the sensation I am getting in my ears on FCC trains. However, that also makes me wonder if the lack of quadrification on the West Coast Mainline between Stock-on-Trent and Stockport keeps even express services from speeding through trains like their counterparts on the East Coast Mainline. That may be frustrating for those wanting to shorten travel times but it makes awaiting a train in a station that bit less scary and passage through any tunnels less of an experience. It also is another argument for getting HS2 as far as Manchester but that’s another story.
While I was away down south over the last week, we got fuller clarity regarding what is going to happen to those subsidised bus services whose funding is about to be withdrawn. Some such as the Sunday 10A between Bollington and Macclesfield will become commercial operations while others like the Sunday 108 between Stockport, Macclesfield and Leek or the summer Sunday 27 between Macclesfield and Knutsford will cease to exist. Seemingly, some operators are willing to give things a go while others aren’t.
Quite a few school services are getting the chop too though some operators (Hulme Hall come to mind here) are speaking to schools. This is something that is undesirable given the need to cut down on car use for the school run but you have to ask what kind of message service cuts like these are sending to people.
Still, the reductions aren’t going to be as bad as elsewhere but we cannot be complacent either, After all, the weekday evening (Monday to Saturday, that is) 130 Macclesfield to Parr’s Wood service just about came above the threshold for withdrawal of support. The counterargument to criticism of the loss of bus services applies here too: use it of lose it. That may sound harsh but it seems to be the world in which we are living at the moment.
Is Edinburgh’s tram system going to look a bit like the National Monument on Calton Hill in the heart of the city unless the project gets past its first phase? Well, that’s how things appear following a recent council decision to limit the extent of the first phase to between Haymarket and Edinburgh Airport. To make sense, it really needs to be extended into Princes Street and, even better, Edinburgh’s East End. Money seems to be at the heart of the matter with Labour and Conservative councillors outvoting Liberal Democrats and the SNP abstaining. For Labour, this looks especially odd given all the discussion of the subject that went on during the 2007 election for the Scottish Parliament; the SNP opposed the idea.
Of course, the whole project has been beset by problems for a good while now and there is a council comment about the project unravelling too, one that sounds all too apt. Rows with contractors regarding the quality of their work and questions surrounding the effectiveness of the project’s management have been among these. The result seems to be a botched execution that has the misfortune of an economic downturn overtaking it. Edinburgh City Council may not have to borrow money for this now but it doesn’t look good when you realise what has been achieved in places such as Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham and Dublin. After all the work that has been done to prepare streets, it would be a shame to see the project stop at its first phase.
The first phase that now is planned does look like a comedown for an attractive city like Edinburgh. If I still live up there (and I left the city more than ten years ago, though I still return from time to time), I am not sure that I’d be considering the idea of using trams instead of buses for getting to the city’s airport for flights to my home country, Ireland, and other destinations. From a shopping point of view, it falls short too. As the plans stand, it almost feels as if it is a shuttle for anyone coming to Haymarket train station instead of being something for the locals. Unless the project continues into future phases, there is a risk that the system becomes a white elephant rather than being a real asset to public transport in a city that enjoys a very good bus network that also is very well used. All in all, it looks like yet another faltering step that surely could not happen elsewhere. For folk wanting to get there or though it, the sound of more work on Princes Street doesn’t sound too promising and it really stings that isn’t for restoring trams to the thoroughfare either, especially with it’s extending from next week until next summer.
Update (2011-08-30): The plot thickens on this story. Scottish Government now threatening to withhold £72m of funding if there is no extension as far as St. Andrew’s Square. Only time will tell if that more sensible course is the one taken. Now, why did SNP councillors abstain in the relevant vote at all?
Update (2011-09-02): The Scottish Government’s threat has done the trick. The tram line is getting extended to St. Andrew’s Square after all. Council borrowing may be needed but I hope that things go better from here on than they have done before now. The last thing that Edinburgh needs is the extension of what has become like a farce.
With what has been witnessed elsewhere, it has been a surprise that we haven’t been hearing about bus service subsidy cuts here in Cheshire East. That changed a few weeks ago and a number of bus services that have been identified as low priority are now facing withdrawal of council funding.It seems that the trend in other places such as Warrington, North Yorkshire, Lancashire and Northamptonshire finally has reached us too.
One surprise in there is Arriva’s Sunday service 10A between Macclesfield and Bollington. One time that I used it, it seemed well used but one occasion does not tell the whole story. It seems that they have decided to continue operating service 14 from Macclesfield to Langley on a commercial basis so that gives some hope for the 10A, even if you do wonder how long the 14 will continue on Sundays.
Of less surprise is the fact that the 108 serving Stockport, Macclesfield and Leek on Sundays is at risk as is the summer Sunday service 27 from Macclesfield to Knutsford. Indeed, there are other rural services like these that rate low on the priority list too but some are going to operated commercially. What will be interesting is seeing how long they last.
However, school services seem to be bearing the brunt of the cutbacks and it is their cost of operation that seems to be cause if you take into account the council figures. Nevertheless, it is pity to see withdrawals when you consider the contribution of the school run to morning and evening traffic levels.
To its credit the council has tried to let bus users in on what is happening though signs on bus stops could have appeared sooner; I only spotted them this week. On their website, there is a page devoted to Public Transport Criteria information and the relevant documents from the most recent council cabinet meeting are also there to be found too. Until Friday, it seems that the situation with regard to some services is fluid but we only can hope that there is as much continuity as possible when decisions have been taken and how things will take shape at the end of October.
While the changes are unsettling and will be seen as short-sighted by some, they aren’t as bad as the stories heard in other parts of the country. For one thing, North Yorkshire has gone a lot further than this. What be seen from various documents is how many subsidised bus services are under observation. These include the evening Monday to Saturday 130 service between Macclesfield, Wilmslow and Parr’s Wood and there are a few others like it in there too. In a time when usage and cost are being scrutinised, we do not need to be losing necessary bus services that folk get about so vigilance and support for services is vital. With the squeeze on the public finances, nothing can be taken for granted.
On Saturday, I embarked on a trip to Wales and I happened to have the misfortune to travel when there were problems with a set of signals in the Trent valley. That meant that a connection from Stoke-on-Trent to Crewe was late because it was a London Midland service from London to Crewe. That meant that my planned journey from Macclesfield to Bangor no longer was possible.
The 13:13 London Midland service turned up after the 13:34 East Midlands service from Derby so I was travelling on that instead. The result was that the 13:49 Virgin train to Chester left without me even with its being delayed too. It was the 14:23 Arriva Trains Wales service that got me there where I caught a train to Llandudno Junction from where I took another to Bangor, where I arrived at 16:35 and not at 15:28 as I had hoped. Even so, no serious damage was done to my plans and I enjoyed a lovely sunny evening regardless.
That last outbound train spent longer in Conwy than expected. A train conductor had not warned cyclists that they needed to be at the centre of the train to disembark. The result was that the rest of us were left waiting while the cyclists realised where they needed to be and made their way there. Only for having the man staffing the refreshments trolley in our carriage, quite a few of us would been ignorant of what was going on. It was another example of a day when trains were in no hurry.
On the return journey the next day, there was only one delay and that was due to train coupling in Llandudno Junction. The sunny weather had lured a fair few folk to the north Wales coast so Arriva Trains Wales were making sure at least one of their services was long enough to convey all who came to catch it, something from which other operators would do well to learn. Six minutes may have been lost but that was no perturbation to my journey home because there was enough slack to cope with it. My arrival time in Macclesfield didn’t have to change like that in Bangor the day before.