Midland Mainline Electrification.
 

I think its fantastic that the Sheffield London line is going to be electrified buy I don't think the tax payer should foot the bill, after all the government of the day privatised the rail sysyem to save money. Since privatisation the rail companies receive 5x the amount of subsidy that British Rail received (just think what a great system we would have had under B/R with that sort of money) so a good part of that will go towards dividend paid to shareholders. I don't want to be a kill joy and we need a good rail network but this is my honest opinion.

Yes that bit too needs wiring


NOW the 1,000,000 squid question

What are they going to run on it ????

Not a penny West of Bristol!!!!!

is 4.5 billion realy enough money to get all this new work done? or will it end up like the two air craft cairrers nice ship but no planes will we end up with any new trains

Its a start Farren and its a good start long overdue. Once they see the benefits (hopefully) it might just spur on more investment. I know what you mean though and the thought crossed my mind that usually these projects are well under-estimated, lets hope they have got it right for once!
All the best
Phil

They're Politicians Phil they NEVER get anything right

Probably because it isn't feasable. The MML runs though large centres of population and there is a chance that the huge cost of electrification will be paid back though usage.

West of Bristol the population is much more sparse and really you couldn't easily get wires over the Royal Albert Bridge or along the seafront at Saltash.
The former would ruin the bridge and the latter would be just plain dangerous.

To look on the bright side, that section of the GWML will probably get a large amount of cascaded HSTs and Meridian units to provide extra capacity.

Thanks SFE!,
We will just love more hand-me -down HST's! Problem is lack of acceleration along the West country main line with its sharp curves and steep hills. We need the wires to give the performance we need to accelerate services. It currently takes 195 minutes for 185 miles from Newton Abbot to Paddington by the fastest service.
There is enough clearance on the Royal Albert Bridge, Brunel didn't skimp on his clearances. The soggy bit of the GW line is between Dawlish and Teignmouth (Saltash is 40 miles away). Last time I visited Blackpool (I used to live there), it had it's trams on the promenade which still ran during the worst storms without fatalities although sand caused a few derailments. Anyway, diesel "thunderbirds" could escort 'leccy' trains just as they do in engineering gaps now, between Exeter and Newton Abbot.

I don't wish to be objectionable, but to expect a line that has a lower usage (and likely future usage) to get preferential treatment over a much more promising counterpart (and one more likely to recover the costs) just doesn't make sense at all.

There is very little money in the government piggy bank at all so we are very lucky that the railways are getting any investment. I'm sure it will get electrified at somepoint in the future (although I still prefer third rail), but more important lines have to be electrified first.
The MML, which serves much larger centres of population is certainly a priority. Its just a fact that these thigns are down to raw figures, and the MML wins hands down.

Not sure about the bridge but can't see it being too much of a problem.
As for along the sea wall what do they do on the Scottish coast line to Ayr.
That's wired and often gets drowned in the waves.