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British government approves first intrastate high-speed route
I’m a little hazy on what your headline writer means by “intratate” in this context: the word doesn’t appear in the story itself, and seems inappropriate when applied to the UK.
All I can say is that the Brits are committing themselves to a transportation infrastructure that will (eventually) get them even with the rest of Europe. If only our government would see the light regarding high speed rail. Anybody think that the Interstate system could be built today?
We have to recgonize that the writing is on the wall for cheap fuel here which will force cars(except for the wealthy) off the roads. We need to be planning now for the transport demands 20 years from now.
Surely they meant Intercity as Britain has never had states. Any line built in Great Britain is by definition intrastate i.e within the realm.
A Google search for “counties in England” leads to probably the best description of the administrative areas within Great Britain.
Intrastate in this context could mean it’s not international, but entirely in the UK, or it could mean it’s all within England and not extending to Wales or Scotland. Since the headline says it’s the first intrastate line, it probably means non-international, since there is a line already but it’s international.
@ Alan- HS1 was built specifically for the Channel Tunnel. While there is commuter service between Folkestone (southernmost UK city on the route) there is no “High-Speed” service between these areas. All High-Speed trains go straight from London to France without stopping in the UK. HS-2 would link several cities between London and Birmingham so even though the “state” reference doesn’t quite make sense to us it’s mainly to differentiate between HS-1 and HS-2.
The United States is the world’s richest Third World country, and as such you can expect Third World services. So, no reliable national rail passenger system, no comprehensive health care system, etc.
Unfortunately America will wait for the time when only rich people will be able to afford individual car travel, before we even CONSIDER mass transit. Then it will take decades to build the infrastructure to catch up to the demand!
I think that “Domestic” instead of “Intrastate” would have been a better choice of words.
Joshua is not quite correct. Many Eurostar trains on HS1 DO travel non-stop between London St Pancras and Paris or Brussels. However several trains each day stop in the UK at either Ebbsfleet or Ashford en-route to the Continent. See the Eurostar website for details at http://www.eurostar.com/dynamic/index.jsp.
Additionally there is “Javelin” High Speed service along part of the HS1 for south of England commuters into/out of London.
Amen to Phil McCall. We are in the same predicament up in Canada. The federal and provincial politicians have had numerous reports/studies done regarding high-speed rail here, but in the end they eventually get shelved; too expensive! They have their heads in the sand. There are plenty of cities up here that would benefit from trains of 300-350 km/h and would take vehicles off the highways.