Planes, trains and automobiles

We thought we’d take a look at transport. Starting with planes - hoorah, we can now take on board two pieces of hand luggage. But our biggest gripe, delays getting through airports, still persists. BAA is a notable culprit (see chart below).

Anna Wilson looks at the relative merits of road vs. trains and the increase in capacity you could expect for £1m of investment. The study, conducted jointly with Invensys, makes interesting reading for anyone involved in infrastructure development.

There are other ways of improving flow without building capacity. We contrast four traffic management schemes from around the world - the most effective schemes charge users and generate revenues for the city. No surprise there.

Also, Max Reimpell looks at the winners and losers as Network Rail consolidated its track contracts from six to four. And then there’s Metronet: Mayor Livingstone wins but we think PPPs are still a good idea, as Tubelines has shown.

Finally, Happy Christmas ­– may your holiday travels run smoothly!

Tools

• Printer friendly
• Email this article
• Increase text size
• Decrease text size
• Download this CVJ

Articles from this issue

• Airport delays
• The cost of creating transport capacity
• Network Rail contracts - 6 to 4
• Tubes - Ken gets Metronet
• Traffic management - charging cuts congestion
• Future transport infrastructure projects
• Pallet networks - growing pains