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Recent content by The Ham

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    DfT press release on Northern Powerhouse Rail

    Even half hourly between large towns is insignificant, look at Basingstoke - Reading which typically has 3tph with a typical train length of 3 coaches and could potentially justify longer/more frequent trains. If I recall correctly Manchester is just a little bit bigger than the combined...
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    Why are XC allowed to continue?

    The point in making is that arguing about which city should be better connected is pointless, as it's clear there should be far more capacity. A lot of effort is made arguing about should one or the other be lucky enough to be thrown a crumb (an extra service or two) when they effort should be...
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    Why are XC allowed to continue?

    Every time this comes up, it misses the point, both need more services. Why you may well ask. Well if you look at the number of services which Exeter gets it, for its size, has far better rail connectivity. It's not like it's much closer to London by train, or that it has significant markets...
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    Donald Trump and the aftermath of his presidency

    He's likely to say that we should obey all of them, he however doesn't need to...
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    "HS2 Back on Track" - front page of Sunday Express - private sector plan to build Birmingham to Manchester

    As others have said, where do those longer trains go? Also, how about Basingstoke Reading, which sees 3tph with circa 3 coaches per train (the XC trains are longer, but have low capacity in the end coaches)? Both ends towns are fairly small (at least compared to Manchester) with small staitons...
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    "HS2 Back on Track" - front page of Sunday Express - private sector plan to build Birmingham to Manchester

    I think that there's a lack of understanding of just how poor capacity the trains in the North are. Where I live there's 2tph with 8 coaches all day, with extra peak services. Total population is under 10,000. The next station is for somewhere were the village is a few hundred, but a nearby...
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    Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party.

    I can only go in my local area, it's somewhere where a lot go to Uni (either kids from here or workers having been and now living here), and yet there's been a growing level of Lib Dem support over the last decade - to the point that 2 years ago the local council election was a near 50:50 vote...
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    Keir Starmer and the Labour Party

    Maybe not in UK politics, but certainly US politics!!!
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    Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party.

    Much had been said about the loss of voters from the Tories to Reform, well according to YouGov (and I know there'll be many who will question how reliable polls are, but it's interesting nonetheless) of the 2019 Tory voters it is indeed the largest shift at 19% has been to Reform. However...
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    Do you think that the UK switching to electric vehicles is realistic?

    The number of young people with a driving licence has generally been on a downwards track since 2000. In the 90's it was about 45% of 17-21 year old, in 2019 it had fallen to 37% (and that was a bit of an outlier with 2017 and 2016 being more typical with 31% and 30%). Whilst the 21-30 year...
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    Do you think that the UK switching to electric vehicles is realistic?

    I would still question how many 80+ mile trips most people (young or old) actually make. As I've said before I'm a slightly extreme example (due to regular trips to see family at about 240 miles) and whilst we would need a primary car which could do a decent range, we are usual in the number of...
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    Do you think that the UK switching to electric vehicles is realistic?

    20-30 miles per working day is about average for someone doing 8,000 miles a year (about the average). That's then about 60 miles per weekend, so unless you're not using for several weekends a year is unlikely that it'll be used for many 100+ mile trips. Given that the average 50+ mile trips...
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    Surely the case is now much stronger for Bere Alston - Tavistock - Okehampton!

    As I've pointed out before, once you've got a there and back branch at each end (Okehampton and Tavistock) the additional costs for running a through service (not including the cost of building the line, extra milage costs or the maintenance of the track) don't increase. It's then a question of...
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    The housing crisis and ways to fix it?

    I've wondered if there was a way of creating a bungalow with a town house (+3 storeys) on top. It would then be possible to have a green roof garden on top of the "bungalow" for the town house whilst still having a garden at ground level for the "bungalow". Other options could be 4 storey...
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    Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party.

    Whist not as apparent as some of the big announcements, or as politically juicy, following one local council candidate becoming an independent none of the district councils in Surrey have a Conservative majority. I'm 2015 it was 10 out of 11 councils...

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