There is one other factor to consider, especially in the case of the North. Aside from a few headline projects such as the A1/M1 link, the M62 <cough> widening and the M60 development, there hasnt been a huge spend on the roads in this region
Apart from all those Motorways, what have the Romans ever done for us?
It should be remembered that there have been very few new motorway projects in the UK in the past twenty-ish years (the M74 extension in Glasgow is the only recent one I can think of, off the top of my head) - the upgrading of the A1 north of Wetherby to Motorway standard is another "northern" scheme worth mentioning though.
I'm sure there's a long list of "roads wot could have been built" in the South East though (which puts the widely held belief that "roads get built really easily" and "the South East gets whatever it wants" into perspective though)...
...there's the (lack of) M27 along the South Downs, there's the need to upgrade the A14 from Rugby to Harwich etc, there's the fact that Norfolk has no motorway (imagine the outrage if it were oop north...)...
...grass isn't always greener.
I have just skimmed through all these pages, and noticed one thing that hasn't really been mentioned much, and is rarely mentioned in everyday conversation.
Has anyone considered just how much time and money are effectively wasted on commuting, in whichever part of the country it is? Millions of people spending up to 4 hours a day just sitting on a train or in a car for 60% of their days throughout their working life.
Add this to all the other social issues of the way we live and travel to work, and there is huge scope to make changes if only people would see it. Most of the jobs don't need to be in the places they are located in, so all these millions of people are having their daily lives disrupted, just for the benefit of a small elite group of individuals (including politicians) insisting on their business being located where they want it to be, and to hell with everyone else.
We have even got to the position were (because commuting is becoming accepted without question) people on minimum or just above minimum wages are expected to travel 20 miles each way just to earn their crust, when probably a similar person is making the journey in the opposite direction, for a similar job with a similar salary.
Perhaps looking at the absurdity of this could benefit everyone, but somehow I doubt anyone would take the lead.
Ideally we wouldn't need to all travel at the same time, ideally there wouldn't be a rush hour, ideally we'd all have jobs much closer to where we live, but we have to deal with the reality of things
This thread still amuses me because anyone who didn't know about england would assume that the north of england is only about manchester and leeds.
True - most of the grumbling about lack of investment is coming from those around the city that has seem the most investment (Metrolink, "Manchester" Hub etc)
Which is no different from us Northerners just considering that anything down south is London and thats it!!!!
It would be easy to make this mistake. When I get emails from any company offering me train tickets at a 'price just too good to miss', there is only one destination offered to me, be it from Manchester, Liverpool, Preston or even the station I want to use (Wigan).
Passenger demand to London is always going to be significant, and include a large "leisure" element. Maybe they could send emails advertising days out in Rotherham instead?
Perhaps I should start a thread entitled 'Is the North East of the North getting a rough deal'?
So are we to conclude that the North West isnt getting a rough deal, but the North East is still lagging behind?
Yup
Maybe the North East needs a successfull football team !!!!
Cheeky sod - Berwick almost made the playoffs last season
With regards to the North East, the region has a good case for saying it is being starved of investment. The Newcastle- Sunderland-Middlesbrough link should have been electrified years ago
True - I think that the Metro electrification has scuppered the possibilities of a "simple" electrification on the Durham Coast.
Whilst there's a reasonably simple pattern on the Middlesbrough - Carlisle axis (Chathill already being under the wires), plus a half hourly Saltburn - Darlo service, it would leave the awkwardly infrequent Whitby and Bishop Auckland lines unelectrified - worth keeping a handful of DMUs just for these lines? (in the way that it isn't currently worth keeping a handful of EMUs just for the Morpeth/Chathill services).
Maybe the first step is the simple wiring to the Metro Centre - shame that wasn't tacked on to CP5 plans as a very small add-on (in terms of miles)
How many DMUs do Northern use on ECML services north of Newcastle? The ScotRail bidders are all to provide a priced option for their own ECML Edinburgh-Newcastle services, likely run with 380s or some more EGIP stock, and it might be an opportunity to take over these Northern services as well.
Whenever this is brought up, the poor business case for a through service is generally mentioned. And without wiring to the Metro Centre, you'd lose the link from Alnmouth/Morpeth/Cramlington to the popular shopping destination.