• FourPacketsOfPeanuts@lemmy.world
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    4 days ago

    On the flip side, one of the UKs major transport problems is that we were the first to industrialise. So although we have rail networks all over the place, they worm through literally thousands and thousands of small bridges and tunnels designed in the Victorian era. So not only can the speed not increase (at least not without buying the surrounding land and straightening the track, crazy expensive) adding any physical dimension to the trains would basically mean re-digging tons of tunnels and lifting bridges, which would also make the cost crazy.

    Meanwhile Germany is zooming about in double decked trains like a boss…

    It’s actually possible to fly to Europe cheaper than some UK train tickets (due to demand)

    Meanwhile, cycling in London is actually getting pleasant in some parts. And it’s seriously satisfying to zip past cars congested for miles. The tube is 24hr as is a large part of the bus network.

    • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
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      4 days ago

      We had the same issues here but then made them much worse by canceling virtually all rail lines and even tearing up a lot of the track in many places. So same situation with air travel almost always being cheaper and faster and on top of that rail travel only connects major cities and can’t connect to smaller cities and towns at all.

      • C A B B A G E@feddit.uk
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        2 days ago

        To get nice new/modern trains would involve widening our tracks and updating the infrastructure. Where I live in the (flat) country who gives a shit - it’s all just land banking farms anyway, but near towns and cities it’s going to involve a huge amount of, at best disruption and and worst the massive displacement of the population who have homes that back onto rail lines.

        Also we’d need all new bridges, tunnels, etc.

        And we’re currently broke as fuck because all the rail operators have been siphoning profit to foreign governments shareholders since we privatised the fuck out of the country.

        There’s not much that will kill you in the UK but there’s a lot that will make you want to die.