Hagley Road First Sprint Network.

[BK63 YWP]

New street is bursting at the seams with WCML traffic and has no additional capacity to add more trains. HS2 is not a waste of time or money, it will create more capacity for more trains to London and less stops. For the people that created the railways, the continent is laughing at our ageing infrastructure and the fact our only high speed railway is London to Dover. Provide better infrastructure and people will use it.

You moaning about 323s being replaced by 730s that will increase capacity with longitude seating with more room for standing passengers. I welcome that instead of being cramped into a full 323 with minimal space to move due to the 3/2 seating.

The metro will help people of Dudley to get to Birmingham without getting stuck in the increasingly congested Birmingham roads. Whilst giving more of the Black Country access to rapid transit. Merry Hill will have faster links to Wolverhampton not 80 min journey on the 15!

I know you will probably think what I am saying is a load of bull but that's my opinion and it's about time the infrastructure of Birmingham had a good investment excluding in my eyes the true white elephant of the room Sprint!

Just let NX purchase E500 MMCs or for the X1 Lothian airlink platinums. The metro NEEDS new seats, Lothian trams have high back leather seats, luggage racks (when the metro goes to the airport)

I wonder if you were living in Manchester when the metrolink first start would you of thought it's a waste of money?

[V89MOA]

New street is bursting at the seams with WCML traffic and has no additional capacity to add more trains. HS2 is not a waste of time or money, it will create more capacity for more trains to London and less stops. For the people that created the railways, the continent is laughing at our ageing infrastructure and the fact our only high speed railway is London to Dover. Provide better infrastructure and people will use it.

You moaning about 323s being replaced by 730s that will increase capacity with longitude seating with more room for standing passengers. I welcome that instead of being cramped into a full 323 with minimal space to move due to the 3/2 seating.

The metro will help people of Dudley to get to Birmingham without getting stuck in the increasingly congested Birmingham roads. Whilst giving more of the Black Country access to rapid transit. Merry Hill will have faster links to Wolverhampton not 80 min journey on the 15!

I know you will probably think what I am saying is a load of bull but that's my opinion and it's about time the infrastructure of Birmingham had a good investment excluding in my eyes the true white elephant of the room Sprint!

Just let NX purchase E500 MMCs or for the X1 Lothian airlink platinums. The metro NEEDS new seats, Lothian trams have high back leather seats, luggage racks (when the metro goes to the airport)

I wonder if you were living in Manchester when the metrolink first start would you of thought it's a waste of money?

More trains pass through New Street on the Cross City line per hour than those going to/coming from London so I don't see how that works?

I haven't once mentioned the 323s in this thread so I'm not sure why you're bringing that up? Yes I think everyone who pays for travel has the basic right to expect a seat, especially when there are plenty of other options for the Cross City before Metro Style seating, hardly a train every 3 minutes is there like on the tube?

About time Birmingham got infrastructure investment? Apart from Five Ways to Bull St, most of the investment on the Metro has gone into the Black Country end... The rest is coming in the form of an overpriced Railway most people won't be able to afford, and an articulated bus system that is not needed or wanted!! Nothing to solve congestion, nothing to make buses more accessible, nothing to make using public transport cheaper or the more attractive option...

No I wouldn't because Manchester's tram system integrates very well with both existing bus and train networks, rather than pushing one out the way to make room for it, you can interchange at both the major bus and rail stations in the city centre, unlike here where the bus stops are spaced out 10 minutes apart. They also provide a decent amount of seats on their trams....

[Trident 4194]

I completed a 5000 word essay on the project of HS2 and after gathering all the research I summoned it to be unnecessary however it does have some benefits. I can find the essay and summarise if anyone would be interested

[Stuharris 6360]

2 very differing projects, both sadly a total waste of money.

HS2 with costs spiralling all the time, the effect on people having to sell there houses, the effect on the countryside will to me never really make any money. To try and recoup some of the money they will have to charge the earth for tickets, with a station that is not in the centre of Birmingham like all other stations are.

Next to sprint, again why is it needed, when the areas suggested are already well served by public transport. This idea was well on the back burner until Birmingham won the Commonwealth Games bid. Now they are trying to show off to the commonwealth wwhat a World class city Birmingham is, in my mind, yes world class in spending money on things that aren't needed and probably after the Commonwealth Games will go the way of Tracline 65, to the tip!!

[mikestone]

The fact is that no-one knows if HS2 will attract any new traffic - no other High Speed Line has ever been built where the existing service provides 125 mph trains every twenty minutes.

[2206]

2 very differing projects, both sadly a total waste of money.

HS2 with costs spiralling all the time, the effect on people having to sell there houses, the effect on the countryside will to me never really make any money. To try and recoup some of the money they will have to charge the earth for tickets, with a station that is not in the centre of Birmingham like all other stations are.

Next to sprint, again why is it needed, when the areas suggested are already well served by public transport. This idea was well on the back burner until Birmingham won the Commonwealth Games bid. Now they are trying to show off to the commonwealth wwhat a World class city Birmingham is, in my mind, yes world class in spending money on things that aren't needed and probably after the Commonwealth Games will go the way of Tracline 65, to the tip!!

Curzon Street is located only round the corner from Moor Street, there are pleanty of bus services which terminate in that part of the centre as well on the Priory Queensway (just round the corner).
You say its not in the centre and the other 3 are, but its no less in the Centre than Snow Hill, if you wanted the Markets/Digbeth end of Birmingham City Centre, Snow Hill is practically on the other side of the City Centre.

I thought the Metro was proposed to be extended down there as well, if it happens to link other parts of the Centre with it.

[don]

The bottom line is that all national transport projects go through a complex process of evaluation against a whole series of indicators and Policies to determine whether their business case justifies the expenditure - before you go believing the figures being quoted for costs those will include massive risk sums to cover the risks identified. So they will be a worst case scenario. Of course, the nonsensical sensationalist stuff in London from Mr Johnson went through no such analysis to become Policy and it is a testament to the professionals who had to implement it.

Yes, predicting usage, which is done through complex modelling can be hit and miss but it generally errs on the conservative side for obvious reasons - it is true to say no one can predict usage to the nth degree but the professionals do have a very good idea. However some of it is down to predicting economic activity - and we all know how difficult that is currently owing the capital B!!

In terms of Sprint, it's highly unlikely that a business case has not been made - if it hasn't then when the planning process occurs objectors could possibly call for a legal review. I think people have got to put on a different headset - back in the early 80s integrated transport was chucked out of the window for cost saving and political reasons - what followed has developed to a decent transport system but it has been recognised that to go further outside of London, better integration must occur and the private sector can only play a part in that - so there will be change - NXWM is particularly adept at reinventing itself and repositioning to fulfill certain fairly substantial parts of the jigsaw in a professional way and is working with the Transport Authority to achieve its Policy objectives. I'm not so sure about the ability of its competitors. For instance, will anyone bring in double deckers of an appropriate quality to run a joint operation on a route?

[DJ]

Article about Sprint plans along the A34 being reviewed in the Express & Star - https://www.expressandstar.com/news/transport/2018/12/29/a34-sprint-bus-plans-to-be-reviewed-after-concerns/