Whoever wins the General Election will be consciously aware that the matters pertaining to the environment, land use and transport matter to the public at large and are associated with issues, urgent to address from early on in a new Government. As some have said, on the one hand the situation of overheating and severe extremes of weather, can be devastating from floods to excessive heat to other side-effects like food production and costs spiralling on the back of uncertainty as social, economic, environmental and moral are linked. If we play thrift with planet earth, we gamble with our very selves.
BRTA is voicing the rail agenda in terms of local rail solutions more, local conventional rail reopenings too. This not haphazardly pluralistic 'anything goes' but specific, targeted region by region identification of gaps, communities disenfranchised and these can be urban and inter-urban, but also rural clusters without rail access. The Borders Railway is a good example of a mainly rural context raising doubts whether it could sustain a railway, and yet carried over 4 million people within the first 2 years. In other part of Britain, like the densely population South East, East-West and Northern England for example, it is highly likely that even greater patronage would result as people and goods flock back to the rails when given a chance.
So we enter this period with a renewed desire to see a coming together as one nation to work towards the common interest of the people, places and land use the rail agenda offers. Unless we do, congestion, waste and pollution is the order of the day and that from whichever view you take, is unsustainable short, medium or long term. Give support to re-railing now please and donate time, money and interest to BRTA to that end. Thank you.
Lots of pluralism abounding in the transport discussions. From P.R. to ribbon cutting to Hyperloop to High Speed to conventional rail people can actually use. The list goes on.
What gives, what takes is 'it'. It is BRTA's conviction that we need more local rail solutions upwards and outwards and local rail reopenings for a plethora of reasons needs to be approached on a nationwide year-on-year commitment plan basis, regional.
This may not mean new money, but rather a conviction and policy by any new government to switch from a road to rail emphasis and growth for the planet, land use stewardship, cut inefficiencies of congestion and boost productivity on the back of more and better local rail links and accessibility. The folly of the 1960's closures was that once the tracks no longer exist, rail potential is out of the game.
Now, we need some of those tracks back, the complication and cost of rectifying routes or new routes is a risk-liability-cost headache, which politicians need convincing of. It is no use sweating what we have, we need more and better rail capacity. All eggs in one basket 'HS2' is one approach with default, but that still leaves communities, intermediate places and a swathe of new flows un-addressed by rail.
At best we need both, at least incremental rail progress enables more for more and that would be a better direction than hitherto. Join BRTA and help volunteer to advance these critical matters where decisions can be made.
BRTA has the Sheffield Forum tomorrow (Saturday 29th June) and our AGM and Public Meeting in Berkhamsted (on the local Euston line) on 13th July. All welcome, admission free. Bring cash to join, donate, peruse our stalls when and where we have them please.
BRTA is soon to change its URL to include 'b' not 'e' for brta! We need a new webmaster to manage the website, it is all voluntary, so please make us offers to consider - maybe a team of people with a coordinator could share it out? Likewise, we want to grow a team who can work up our rough drawings to be aesthetically helpful diagrams - we have used Microsoft Provisio - any interest and offers, please for any and all these voluntary roles contact Richard Pill, BRTA CEO via richard.erta@gmail.com
Newsletter out next week and the General Election - still time to ask about rail and better, affordable and accessible public transport for all and vote with your ballot paper, feet and wallets accordingly. That is a fine start!
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