Larger airports (From The Oxford Times)
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Larger airports
11:00am Monday 24th September 2012 in News
The Liberal Democrat party has backed calls to expand airports outside London instead of building runways at Heathrow or Gatwick.
The proposals were passed at the party’s conference in Brighton this weekend and come just weeks after it was revealed North Oxfordshire could be a potential airport site.
Lib Dem Parliamentary Party Committee on Transport co-chairman Julian Huppert said: “Britain has to get the right balance between our need for international connectivity and the environmental threats we face.”
Comments(14)
King Joke
says...
12:26pm Mon 24 Sep 12
Having more long-haul flights converted to A380s, as airports around the world are upgraded, will also accommodate growth
Severian
says...
12:51pm Mon 24 Sep 12
Severian
says...
12:55pm Mon 24 Sep 12
King Joke wrote:Your name is highly appropriate because HS2 really is a 'king joke! £35,000,000,000 of public money to build a train line which will be massively overpriced and underused.
You wouldn't need more capacity if we stopped short-haul flights under 500 miles. Once HS2 and the link to HS1 is built we should used high-speed rail to feed into LHR from Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Scotland etc, and north-western Europe. HS trains can and do code-share with airlines to offer connecting journeys on the continent. Having more long-haul flights converted to A380s, as airports around the world are upgraded, will also accommodate growth
We already have a way for motorists to get to the north much more quickly than the M6 - the M6 Toll Road. And it is virtually empty all the time, because motorists aren't prepared to pay an extra £6 A VEHICLE to save themselves 20 minutes on a 2 hour journey.
Yet the lunatics behind HS2 seem to think that people will be happy to pay tens of pounds more PER TICKET to get to Birmigham 20 minutes quicker than they can at present on the Chiltern Railway line.
This is a political white elephant, created with no real belief that it will actually transfer passengers from other modes of transport - it is simply political posturing so the likes of Nick Clegg can pretend to some voters that he is actually doing something.
King Joke
says...
1:22pm Mon 24 Sep 12
It will provide extra capacity between London and Birmingham, and subsuequently Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and the Central Belt of Scotland. The railway is growing at 6% and will be full up by the 2020s. Destinations like Newcastle and Scotland will also see significant time savings.
It will provide extra connectivity between these northern destinations, the Channel Tunnel and the Continent. It will provide extra connectivity between these desinations and Heathrow, hopefully obviating wasteful short-haul flights. With a big interchange at Old Oak Common, destinations in the West of England and South Wales will also see better connectivity with the Channel Tunnel and faster connections to the northern destinations mentioned above.
HS2 is about connectivity and capacity as much as it is time-savings.
Victor's_friend
says...
2:35pm Mon 24 Sep 12
If so, great build another airport not too far from Oxford Airport.
NIMBYs not expanding Heathrow/Gatwick - if all they require is one final runway to service the`existing terminals surely that must be better than building a brand new airport somewhere else. Not as if there are stashes of cash waiting to be spent.
First Group justified their bid for West Coast line on the basis that there is substantial unused capacity, so surely that blows HS2 out, since that supposedly reduces journeys by insignificant times, plus if FG more than delivers this extra route becomes less viable. Else their bid numbers are as accurate as HS2's.
King Joke
says...
2:42pm Mon 24 Sep 12
At any rate the unused capacity is off-peak. We know that peak trains are pretty busy even in First Class, and in Standard at any rate, Sunday trains as busy as weekday peak ones.
At some point we are going to have to bite the bullet and build more capacity. THere are alternatives to HS2 but they will all be expensive and disruptive, probably more disruptive than HS2. They might be better, they might not, but while HS2 has cross-party support it is the one we all need to back.
THe alternatives, of increased short-haul air and a new motorway-building programme are pretty unpalatable.
Myron Blatz
says...
11:59pm Mon 24 Sep 12
ger elttil OX2 0EJ
says...
5:26pm Tue 25 Sep 12
King Joke
says...
8:20am Wed 26 Sep 12
1. With short-haul flights transferred to rail and long-haul flights upgraded to A380 operation, there would be plenty of capacity to link us to emerging markets.
2. With the correct infrastructure North Oxon would be under 30 mins to Central London - not that I support a Heyford Airport, but we're not that far away.
3. As Confuscius say, man who walk into airport door sideways is probably going to Bangkok...
Ordinarybloke
says...
3:59pm Thu 27 Sep 12
The future is broadband and not long distance train journeys or even flying. The £35 billion the govt is about to waste could be put to so many better uses.
King Joke
says...
4:12pm Thu 27 Sep 12
Ordinarybloke wrote:How many flights from Heathrow are under 500 miles? Many destinations in England, Scotland, Belgium, the Netherlands, NOrthern France and Western German will be easily reached when HS2 and the link to HS1 is built. The number of flights to these destinations is not tiny by any means.
The numberof flights using Heathrow that would be removed by HS2 is tiny. Not even the Government thinks this is a reason for it. We now know that the WCML is the most under used intercity route in the country, so there is plenty of capcity for many, many years. The future is broadband and not long distance train journeys or even flying. The £35 billion the govt is about to waste could be put to so many better uses.
I'm amused to learn the WCML is under-used. Wait for a train at Nuneaton and you will see 9+ car trains flying through every few minutes. Even if they are only 3/4 full now, they certainly will not be by the mid-2020s. THe level of inter-city traffic on the line suppresses demand for freight and local/regional passenger traffic as well.
Finally if broadband were reducing demand to travel we'd be grassing over the M1. There are many journeys the purpose for which cannot be undertaken by Skype - leisure travel included.
ger elttil OX2 0EJ
says...
6:47pm Thu 27 Sep 12
Ordinarybloke wrote:Yep and I have just looked at my local A-GO-GO in Phuket on my broadband connection, and guess what, I will be flying there because your Broadband is not the future it is just a tool, more airport capacity IS the future, especially now with China and India becoming so wealthy that their people want to visit England and spend their money, not just look at it over a broadband connection on a screen. GEDDIT!
The numberof flights using Heathrow that would be removed by HS2 is tiny. Not even the Government thinks this is a reason for it. We now know that the WCML is the most under used intercity route in the country, so there is plenty of capcity for many, many years.
The future is broadband and not long distance train journeys or even flying. The £35 billion the govt is about to waste could be put to so many better uses.
King Joke
says...
8:48am Fri 28 Sep 12
ger elttil OX2 0EJ wrote:... which is why we need to clear the short-haul stuff out of Heathrow, to accommodate trunk routes to growing markets.
Ordinarybloke wrote: The numberof flights using Heathrow that would be removed by HS2 is tiny. Not even the Government thinks this is a reason for it. We now know that the WCML is the most under used intercity route in the country, so there is plenty of capcity for many, many years. The future is broadband and not long distance train journeys or even flying. The £35 billion the govt is about to waste could be put to so many better uses.Yep and I have just looked at my local A-GO-GO in Phuket on my broadband connection, and guess what, I will be flying there because your Broadband is not the future it is just a tool, more airport capacity IS the future, especially now with China and India becoming so wealthy that their people want to visit England and spend their money, not just look at it over a broadband connection on a screen. GEDDIT!
Andrew:Oxford says...
11:44am Mon 24 Sep 12
*Capaign to Protect Retirement Expectations/Rural England (Delete as applicable).