[dwb]

I spotted this on a Swiss website today. The Swiss connection is that they are contributing some of the money. Basel is just across the border from Mulhouse (home to a French railway museum I believe) and as some of you may know they share an airport. In the past the city of Mulhouse was allied politically with the Swiss cantons.

David

 

[Doug]

Any new rail project is good. They just make getting around so much easier.

I talked about the Mulhouse museum here and linked to some photos here.

 

[dwb]

Ohhh - thanks. I will definitely try to visit on my journey to / from Switzerland later this summer.

David

 

[Dennis David]

France's railroads are pretty much second to none.

I only wish passenger service in the United States were 1/2 as good. If I took a train ride to New York and back I would be a grandfather by the time I got home, assuming it was still standing and had not gotten tagged as being abandoned.

 

[neil_s_wood]

I can relate to that. I thought that Britains railways were shabby before I came here. From an Australian perspective Britains trains are closer to Frances than they are to what they have here. Unfortunately, like the USA, car is king.

 

[Dennis David]

Yeah and your 100-110kph speed limit is a snoozer a well, add the speed cameras and the long distances of nothingness and it's not a whole lot of fun to drive in Australia.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 4 Jul 2006, 13:15) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Yeah and your 100-110kph speed limit is a snoozer a well, add the speed cameras and the long distances of nothingness and it's not a whole lot of fun to drive in Australia.

You forgot the numerous pot holes and the low overall standard of driving, lack of vehicle roadworthy resulting in antique shitheaps on the road (Vic only) lack of traffic cops, serial killers, road trains, drunk red necks in pick ups trucks...... I'll better stop there

 

[Dennis David]

You didn't mention the side of the street you drive on ...

In spite of all that I had a great 5 months down under.

 

[Dennis David]

Oh and while we're on the subject do not ever bid (eBay) on anything from Germany ... what a nightmare.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 4 Jul 2006, 14:03) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>You didn't mention the side of the street you drive on ...

In spite of all that I had a great 5 months down under.

Fortunately that's one thing they do do correctly.

Well, some of them.

Where I live they tend to drive right down the middle of the street.

 

[ozwarrior]

Do all TGV lines radiate from Paris or do they have crosscountry routes?

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (ozwarrior @ 4 Jul 2006, 15:38) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Do all TGV lines radiate from Paris or do they have crosscountry routes?

Pretty much. Not all do but about 90% does. See the map below.

 

[dwb]

The line to Strasbourg is due to open next year. You can see quite a lot of it from the A4 motorway which heads east to Germany.

David

 

[Dennis David]

That's an awesome rail network, funny that model railroading is not a bigger hobby in France.

 

[Brian Considine]

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 4 Jul 2006, 05:04) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Oh and while we're on the subject do not ever bid (eBay) on anything from Germany ... what a nightmare.

Why ?

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 4 Jul 2006, 14:04) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Oh and while we're on the subject do not ever bid (eBay) on anything from Germany ... what a nightmare.
I have bought several items on Ebay from Germany and while I have received them all there has been the odd problem like PayPal or damage to the item. What was your problem Dennis.

 

[spongebob]

As painful as this is to say we in Britain could learn a lot from the French about mass transportation it would seem. Admittedly everywhere in France is mileage away but they have got this idea of getting from A to B very quickly about right. Might be something to do with the bewildering road network over there.

 

[pedromorgan]

spongebob. i think we have actually. things are getting far better now. we will never have a TGV network because
1. it costs too much to build
2. it costs too much to run. evry journey you make on a TGV makes a loss. it needs a subsidy that makes ours in britain look puney buy comparison.
3. do you need to travel at 186MPH to get from london to birmingham? now i think 186MPH to get OUT of birmingham is perfectly acceptable!!

i travelled from london cheltenham and back monday/tuesday and it ran like a dream.
the trouble is reliability needs to be improved drastically. there is very little flexability in our system. i could draw your attention to the ammount the tories spent on the railways when they were in power and labour for the first coupld of years but i didnt! we have had 20 years of catching up to do.

peter

 

[dwb]

>Britain could learn a lot from the French about mass transportation
A lot of it is to do with the attitude adopted by the French state. The French state decides "We will have a TGV Line". The NIMBYs pop up and are promptly squashed with "The state needs the TGV line. Tough luck" and so the TGV line gets built. The converse is that if the state gets too out of hand, the citizens take to the streets.

Then there's the 80% of French electricity which comes from nuclear power....

Of course this may be a gross over-simplification but having a bloody revolution (that's a revolution with a lot of blood shed, not poor language) has something to do with it.

David

 

[spongebob]

SO we are copying the French idea as regards our future power sources as well then. Nice to see Tony Blair and his cronies don't have an original idea in their collective heads. Probably why he's come up with this national debate on crime.