Quote:
Originally Posted by Seabrook
WEFOC will soon have no regular traffic, DBS will soon only be using C Fan comprising 8 roads. When you consider the huge waste on Stratford and Wembley Inter-modal terminals installing new cranes and facilities. The former completely gone, the latter not now in use. Who can say the Public money spent on Channel Tunnel Rail infrastructure has not been wasted?
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I agree. The amount of Channel Tunnel-specific taxpayer money 'lost' since the opening of the tunnel in 1994 is quite staggering really.
On just the intermodal side of things, the sums are quite massive. Take for example, the three pairs of Morris cranes bought. The units meant for Stratford of course didn't get used there and went for use at the Freightliner Manchester terminal. Last year these cranes, like the pair of Morris cranes that went to Landor Street, were replaced and scrapped.
In the meantime, the last remaining pair, which stand at Willesden, has not been in use for several years.
Then there are the two pairs of Armund cranes. The pair in place at Willesden, like the Morris cranes, has not been in use for years. As for the units at Manchester, according to several press reports, DB Schenker is mothballing the Trafford Park terminal this month, so these cranes will be doing nothing from now on.
So in the space of 16 years the British taxpayer has purchased fives pairs of RMG cranes, none of which are now in use. I think that's quite an achievement.
As for changes at the Wembley yards, I confess I don’t know what you mean by the C Fan. I pass the yard every day, and looking at an aerial photo of the yard, are you saying that the long 750m tracks are the ones that will remain in use? Do these make-up the C Fan?
By implication therefore, will the shorter lines, especially those that are effectively sidings, be taken out of use?