The UK is holding a competition for it's new high speed train

"El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!" (lightningzone)
08/19/2018 at 05:04 • Filed to: None

5 companies entered.

And none is British.

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Of course, some offer to do some of the manufacturing in Britain, but for a long time railway pioneer, thi s must be a little hard to swallow.

I guess empires never last.

DISCUSSION (15)

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/19/2018 at 05:39

2026 first train enters service?

*filed to never happening*

djmt1 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/19/2018 at 05:54

If it was hard to swallow, our rail network wouldn’t of been chopped up, horrifically underfunded and left to rot all these years. Plus being British didn’t get anyone preferential treatment back in the BR days let alone now.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > farscythe - makin da cawfee!
08/19/2018 at 06:06

7 years seems like a lot of time, given other high speed train purchases in the recent years. The new Amtrak trains , built by Alstom in America, will enter service in 2021, five years after the contract has been awarded. So are the t rains, Talgo is building for Renfe. Contract awarded in 2016, deliveries will begin in 2019.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > djmt1
08/19/2018 at 06:16

You make it sound like you guys C4'd your railroad systems, lol.

djmt1 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/19/2018 at 06:35

Only C4. I guess I was being too subtle. Our railways are in a truly dire state of affairs and I’m in London so I have it relatively good compared to the other British Oppos. HS2 is good start for rectifying 50 years of corruption, mistakes and neglect but it needs to be so much more.

Plus this country was built around the railways and they were sacrificed in order to adopt the Yank model of every city has an airport and every person a car and unsurprisingly that didn’t work in cities and towns that were originally planned out by the Romans.

Now of course we’re flocking back to the rails and the rails can’t handle it. We need more of everything, especially rolling stock and quite simply we haven’t got the time to be faffing about worrying who builds them.

djmt1 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/19/2018 at 06:36

The trains aren’t the problem, the track is or rather lack there of.

El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First! > djmt1
08/19/2018 at 07:41

Why? Why would you use a model that's meant for a big continent country, on a tiny island?

Cé hé sin > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/19/2018 at 07:46

Building the rolling stock is one thing but you need a railway to run it on! Finding an alignment for a high speed line though fairly densely populated country isn't easy.

Cé hé sin > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/19/2018 at 08:24

They certainly don’t!

None of those five companies is American and the only high speed rolling stock in use in the US is by Alstom, a company not notably American. The new kind-o f-high speed line in Florida is equipped by Siemens, something unlikely in th e old days.

djmt1 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/19/2018 at 08:27

The distances travelled are largely the same as on the continent that being 400 miles. Plus the UK greater population density means that we’re much more suited to high speed rail service than most places with the exception of Japan.

The problem is that UK ‘s problems are unique to us. Our loading gauge is the most restrictive in the world and our network is notably more twisty than elsewhere due to being so much older than the rest of the world. As a result we can’t just buy trains of the shelf like everyone else and our new trains will have a lot of unorthodox requirements like the ability to tilt at 125 mph and run at 250 mph.

This leaves us with two options either adapt an existing model or create a new one. Now my government would much rather adapt an existing model despite being built abroad and not supporting British jobs blah, blah, blah, since it’s much cheaper and faster to get done. The manufacturers on the other would really rather not since adapting their production lines to British standard is a pain and will likely need to be reverted back since the British express train market isn’t exactly massive.

As a result all of the manufacturers have said the trains will be built in UK factories new or existing. O f course British built trains will come with a premium due to the added costs from either the new factory itself or a lack of economies of scale. All comes down to politics in the end and with this being the Brexit age that likely means UK built. On the bright side, British built will mean the seats will actually be nice to sit in.

Dusty Ventures > djmt1
08/19/2018 at 09:06

I think he meant why would a small country like GB adopt America’s big country “airports and cars for everyone ” format.

djmt1 > Dusty Ventures
08/19/2018 at 09:22

Ah You’re right. Simply put l obbying and a desire to look modern.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > djmt1
08/19/2018 at 09:26

Damn, that really puts it into perspective.

Leon711 > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/19/2018 at 15:17

Am British, can confirm that I’d rather take a bus or cycle or run than take a heinously expensi ve and late train.

eftalanquest > El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/21/2018 at 16:30

of course none is british. in what dreamworld are you living?