I went to an interesting off the record lunch with senior reps from the bus and train business.

During the discussion they agreed that Uk trains are far too heavy, requiring large amounts?? of power to haul them and limiting the number of trains that can be run per hour.

They accepted that the avergae bus is 9 years old -meaning it is old technology with a dirty and carbon emitting engine - and only has 9 passengers on it.?? Modern long distance coaches are greener than old buses or UK trains.

Their answer to the poor carbon performance of many old urban buses is to put in more bus lanes. Whilst this would reduce the amount of carbon buses send out, it would greatly increase the total amount of carbon from road traffic in the affected area, as the non bus traffic would sit in ever bigger traffic jams, unable to use the largely empty bus lane. A true green policy would be to scrap bus lanes, to allow better flow rates for all traffic and thereby cut carbon emissions.

Their answer to the poor carbon perforamce of trains - and the poor frequency of trains on stell track - is to lower the weight of the train. That would be most helpoful, but it is taking so long for them to change the specifications. In the year when the USA launches the Dreamliner, a much lighter plane using new materials, it is extraordinary that the UK is stuck with very heavy steel trains on steel track. They are both dirty and impede running frequent services on some very good routes right into the hearts of our cities. A Great western 125 set weighs a staggering 350 tonnes. You need a huge amount of horsepower to get that up to speed, and a very long braking distance to slow it down again. The Japanese already use composites and build much lighter trains for thier own use. Why can’t we?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS