Norman Baker

[kevo]

Which in turn would hinder massively supporters travel after games

How, exactly? Presumably there would be more trains! So it wouldn't exactly hinder people trying to get back to Lewes. And I'm also not sure it would be a hindrance to fans living in Uckfield and Crowborough or Kent to have a direct rail link to the Amex...

 

[Uter]

It's been discussed on here many times.

It's one thing opening / re-opening the lines between Lewes and Uckfield, but that won't resolve the immediate issue - namely that South London can't cope with extra trains without a major overhaul.

He is now proposing a route that bypasses East Croydon (the main bottleneck) and shares a bit of track with the Croydon Tramlink, then tunnels under Canary Wharf and out somewhere near Stratford to address this problem.

It may seem a bit pie in the sky, but in the two decades since BR rail passenger numbers have risen pretty much every year and now twice as many people use the train.

If numbers continue growing at the aggressive rate we've seen in recent years (as high as 7%), and there is every reason to suppose they will given even a recession hasn't slowed the rise, the trains are going to be full in a few years.

Beyond Thameslink the Route Utilization Strategy offers no solutions. It's easy to scoff at what might seem a pipe dream of an amateur train enthusiast, but what practical solutions will be taken to meet future demand? The lead time of ANY solution is going to be many years, so we need to plan now how to handle this growth.

Implementing the latest signalling system might help a bit, but it's really not going solve the East Croydon issue.

Baker doesn't like BML2 as it bypasses Lewes.

 

[Gazwag]

How will doubling the number of trains through Falmer (which is what he proposes), and opening up a whole raft of additional direct destinations hinder supperters?

How, exactly? Presumably there would be more trains! So it wouldn't exactly hinder people trying to get back to Lewes. And I'm also not sure it would be a hindrance to fans living in Uckfield and Crowborough or Kent to have a direct rail link to the Amex...

See my other posts on this, but basically it would bring the station to a standstill on the Lewes side by giving a fourth option for the ignorant "stand of the platform because I'm too lazy to change at Lewes" supporters

 

[VAL1850]

Connex ran a rail bus link from Lewes - Uckfield - didnt last long as nobody used that

 

[VAL1850]

I'd rather they got the time of the Eastbourne to London journey down. That takes as long as London to brum but is less than half the distance. They really should be aiming to do an Eastbourne to Victoria service in under an hour.

Having to wait 10 minutes at Haywards Heath every journey waiting for the Littlehampton train to join, 10 minutes could be saved there for starters

 

[The Modfather]

Saw the thread title, thought he had died.

Disappointed.

 

[teaboy]

Connex ran a rail bus link from Lewes - Uckfield - didnt last long as nobody used that

I did - living in Ringmer at the time it was the only way to get home after a night drinking in Lewes. It seemed to employ drivers who could only go at 60mph or stop to let people on and off, so the journey took about 2 minutes. All for a £1, if anyone actually bothered to pay. It was awesome!

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Bml 2 is the biggest load of tripe ever published. How anyone can say it is more needed than hs2 beggars belief.

And anyway I thought Norman baker was in favour of bml2, just when he got into government he actually had to look at whether it was remotely viable (it isn't) rather than just endorsing it because it would win him a few votes.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

How, exactly? Presumably there would be more trains! So it wouldn't exactly hinder people trying to get back to Lewes.

But BML2 wouldn't go from Falmer to Lewes.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I did - living in Ringmer at the time it was the only way to get home after a night drinking in Lewes. It seemed to employ drivers who could only go at 60mph or stop to let people on and off, so the journey took about 2 minutes. All for a £1, if anyone actually bothered to pay. It was awesome!

... and that's why it was withdrawn:- "If anyone actually bothered to pay".

And I think it was Councillor Norman Baker and me whose combined efforts ensured that the ludicrous amount of council subsidy that was necessary to keep the late night service going was withdrawn.

 

[Notters]

Ignoring the facts that it was closed because no one used it and it lost a pile of money!

Completely incorrect. The irony of the situation is that it was actually making a profit when it was closed.

One of the Beeching cuts which made absolutely no sense - severing seven miles of track which linked the route to the rest of the network.

And there is a very viable case now for having an alternative London-Brighton route when there are problems on the main line.

Makes a lot more sense to me than HS2 - do we really need a multi-billion pound high speed link to Birmingham (the quick ones at the moment are pretty good!).

It was closed because of the new road bridge over the Ouse, nothing to do with Beeching or money.

 

[teaboy]

... and that's why it was withdrawn:- "If anyone actually bothered to pay".

And I think it was Councillor Norman Baker and me whose combined efforts ensured that the ludicrous amount of council subsidy that was necessary to keep the late night service going was withdrawn.

Which was the right decision. It wasn't always the passengers refusing to cough up, drivers saw it as too much effort to take fares. If it had been run properly then it might've been more viable (probably not viable enough still though!).

 

[Norman Potting]

It was closed because of the new road bridge over the Ouse, nothing to do with Beeching or money.

...And I think that there was also a stand off between the County Council and BR as to who would fund the building of the diverted route so in the end they agreed to do nothing.

Remember that this was the late '60's and it was assumed that everyone would soon have a car, railway and buses were in terminal decline and within 30 years machines would have taken over all work and we would have so much time on our hands that we wouldn't know what to do with it.

 

[seagurn]

It's been discussed on here many times.

It's one thing opening / re-opening the lines between Lewes and Uckfield, but that won't resolve the immediate issue - namely that South London can't cope with extra trains without a major overhaul.

Plenty of buildings around Norwood and East croydon could be pulled down ..i think they call it slum clearance !

 

[Notters]

Ignoring the facts that it was closed because no one used it and it lost a pile of money!

Plenty of buildings around Norwood and East croydon could be pulled down ..i think they call it slum clearance !

Not to mention Thornton Heath.

 

[Guinness Boy]

The Liberals are a bunch of liars. Thankfully I didn't vote for them this time, but have in the past. But I can only imagine how annoyed the students who did vote for them feel after they voted for tuition fees. Yes, Norman Baker voted FOR tuition fees.

Is the Seagulls party still up and running? IMO should run directly against him at the next election. I would love to see him turfed out.

Well at one point the Tories were set to reward him for his loyalty by removing his constituency. I think the Lords reform debacle may have put that on hold. If it has then sadly the only person who'll remove Baker from Lewes is another Liberal, so mired is it in knitted yoghurt and sandals.

 

[User removed 4]

I would argue that a high speed rail link between London (Europes third largest city) and Birmingham (our second city) is very much needed. It currently takes 90 minutes to travel from London to Brum a journey time that can be cut by at least half with the new proposal. Also If it is a success then it will almost certainly be extended to Manchester and perhaps further afield, this much like the channel tunnel project will be a huge legacy for future generations albeit at considerable costs.

We are already behind the rest of Europe in terms of high speed rail transit and without heavy investment our out dated network will become slower and more costly to maintain add the fact that as a nation we can still borrow at low rate of interest it makes sense to invest heavily into rail infrastructure now.

What are the two that are bigger, moscow I would think is one , which is the other ?

 

[Scampi]

Don't really understand (or care) about the railway argument. Just wanted to say that as my constituency MP Norman Baker has been brilliant. Have needed his help twice, and he has been really good. I used to live in Nicholas Soames constituency who was completely useless and no help at all.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

What are the two that are bigger, moscow I would think is one , which is the other ?

Istanbul, I guess, depending on how much is classed as being in Europe.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

Well at one point the Tories were set to reward him for his loyalty by removing his constituency. I think the Lords reform debacle may have put that on hold. If it has then sadly the only person who'll remove Baker from Lewes is another Liberal, so mired is it in knitted yoghurt and sandals.

It was a tory stronghold until 1997 and Lewes residents are a minority in the constitiuency. Seaford is the biggest town.