Opposition announces high-speed rail plans
Published: 26 Apr 10 14:09 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/26284/20100426/
The left-green opposition parties have agreed to invest heavily in rail and public transport if they win the election in September, including the construction of high-speed railway lines.
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The proposal includes high-speed railway links between Stockholm and Linköping, and between Gothenburg and Borås via Landvetter airport, the start of construction for the Northern Bothnia Line between Umeå and Luleå, double track expansion on the East Coast Line between Sundsvall and Gävle, and an expansion to four tracks with a tunnel under Sundbyberg outside Stockholm.
The parties also announced an intention to bring forward plans for the West Link rail tunnel, the extension of the West Coast Railway extension through Varberg and expansion of the southern trunk line network.
The opposition coalition describes its ambitious and expensive plans as the largest since the late 1800s, but despite the cost they also project no reduction in the framework for road investment that the government has already proposed.
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Now will they please stop subsidising flying and make them pay tax on fuel like everyone else.
The x2000 costs are insane. They are stupid. It should not be more expensive to get a train from Malmö to Stockholm. There is no excuse for that.
Also when getting lan cards, instead of having them cover one lan, it needs to be made possible to cover more than one lan, so as to encourage people to travel by train and mix more freely.
They could include extending the T-Banna in Stockholm from Mörby centrum to at least Täby. The new road they built cost so much money whereas the rail option would have been better for the environment.
The busses need to be changed to Hydrogen fuel cells too. Germany has already started with this and it can be done with a minimal amount of change to the infrastructure.
This is a good move and makes them more appealing in my eyes. I just cannot bring myself to vote for Mona.... She has failed too much, and would bring the country to ruin with her and the greens immigration policies.
The price for fuel is not its competitive price. It is administratively fixed at low price (reflecting US pressure on main producers). It encourages over consumption, and accelerates the depletion of petroleum. According to US military (the highest consumer in the world) has reported that there will be a serious shortage of fuel by 2015.
Flying does not reflect full cost of flying. It does not include cost of pollution and the opportunity cost of fuel and depreciation. Sweden is rich in water power. A forward looking policy in Sweden should seek of reducing the country's dependence on fuel. Encourage rail travel!
Sorry, but if a thing is good, you don't need to encourage its use. But if it performs poorly compared to other means, than it should be optimized first.
Alas the planes tend to suck I hate Ryan Air and the fact i have to pay extra to get out to the airport etc and if I go SAS I still have that problem and they are rude.
X2000 staff have been quite nice :D
As for being greener. 43.3% of energy is renewable the real question is how much energy is used by these high speed trains per person? Also they are crap for transporting bagage. I haven't seen anything that is remotely like a plane.
I have been on the Eurostar now that goes much quicker and is kind of a step up but the carriages seem shabby
The best by a million miles are the Japanese Shinkansen, those absolutely put planes to shame, extremely quick, extremely smooth, extremely silent and plent of space for bagage! Best trains in the world! X2000 is a bit rubbish in comparison.
Its a pity it costs loads and theres no way to just jump on, cars give flexibility public transport tends to remove that altogether which is the reason that public transport can never replace your own car. FREEDOM!!!
We have a similar problem here, in Wisconsin for the 5.5 million souls who will not be riding the train and no amount of taxation will pay for the upkeep which is beyond any hope of being obtained.
Even England which has one of the most dense population on earth, does not have any profitable routes.
Why is it that all these train schemes come from the left? It always reminds me of the scene from Dr Zhivago, where they all had to experience travel together. It would be unfair for someone to come and go when they want, in what they want. That is called freedom.
The trains in Sweden are subsidized using fuel tax money. If that wasn't the case then no one would be using the train. Yet you hate the airline companies and want them to start paying for the governments train system as well??