Why doesnt the uk have high speed trains like other countries?

Question

It takes nearly 4hrs to get from llanelli (thats in Wales) to London by train and 3.5hrs by car.

Answer 1

The US doesn't have many either.

Answer 2

because our rail network is really old, and they just cant handle the fast trains.

in cornwall the speed limit is 60mph think yourself lucky...

Answer 3

Too many curves in the track, too many low bridges and too many domestic properties within collision distance of the track in the event of a derailment!

Answer 4

The ones we already have are dangerous enough.

Answer 5

State of the tracks

Answer 6

its all because the track system was built to the terrain ie:lots of tight bends and the government's failure to invest in a proper infrastructure. thats the short answer

Answer 7

People have mentioned at length about c**p infrastructure and the like. Places like Japan and France invest heavily in their railways - look at the dedicated routes across France they have built for the TGV since 1981 - astonishing. Those that say we don't need railways are talking utter rubbish. We need the railways, they're essential to our economy and the road system could never cope if we transported everything this way. We do have high speed trains in this country - the East Coast Main Line, the West Coast Main Line and the Great Western route as far as Exeter where running is 125 mph almost throughout. Remember too that the high speed link aross Kent is now complete and trains are running towards the channel tunnel at 180mph!!  The railways are getting better but there are too many people who still laugh at the old jokes about BR sandwiches and late trains - it's boring!!  The railways are not perfect and there is still a way to go but give the railways a break.

Answer 8

The country is too small, they'd fall into the sea

Answer 9

Because railtrack know they are on to a winner by just repairing the c**p rail infrastructure we have, and that by upgrading the tracks to cope with the high speed trains would mean an end to there never ending repairs which causes some much disruption and delays !

Answer 10

Whats the point of having trains at all

They are always late anyway :(

Answer 11

The US needs a better rail system as well

But I guess that planes eliminate that need

Answer 12

We have one of the safest rail records in the world. We have trains that can run at 150 mph in someparts of the UK....much faster than most other countries around the world. Yes, France TGV, Germany ICE trains, Japan etc can offer trains with higher speeds but these are built specifically to travel huge distances..we just dont have those sort of mileages to travel in Uk or the investment to build purpose built dedicated lines. Local services from LLanelli are just that, local trains with a max speed of 90mph. You may be lucky and get the early morning HST service which is quicker but in the whole i reckon our rail system does a pretty good job considering decades of underinvestment and a stupid bloody government who privatised it!!!!!

Answer 13

Because it is not necessary!

The real problem is that the British Fascits{all governements of this country who gave priority to individual transport}stopped the rail developpment by closing half the network and ending the realisation of the lines projected before WW I -II.So this is the main reason this nation decayed ;they abandonned progress [what makes an advanced civilisation is the Rail not General Motors]passing from First World to Fourth .

Answer 14

because we are c**p

Answer 15

Because in Britain everything is slow.

Answer 16

We have it goes through the channel tunnel

We have but they are not allowed to go past 125mph for safety reasons

Answer 17

Because no one wants to pay for it that is why...

Answer 18

The government doesn't like the costs of new rail projects, but also in Europe there are lots of unpopulated open spaces where a high speed route can be laid without too much opposition. There is no similar unoccupied land in the UK so a new line would be so much more expensive then in Europe. even so the Channel Tunnel rail link is being constructed and domestic high speed services should start in 2008.

Answer 19

we do have high speed trains.. 150 mph+ on the east/west coast mainline.....  i think 4 hours from llanelli to london is wrong, its quicker than that, maybe you travelled when there was engineering work...   the reason france has 200mph trains is because it is so flat and open there, they can install the lines.. we are much more densly populated here opposed to there.... some of your answerers are totally wrong... we have currently some of the safest,most reliable trains in the world.. look at south-west trains, 99% punctuality lately.... for example... the french etc, don't have the problems with vandalism and plonkers running about on the track, and trying to beat the level crossing lights... if we could stop that nonsence, we could up the speeds.......

Answer 20

They're on the way!

Journey times in Kent are to be cut by half with domestic services on the CTRL.

As for people who don't want to pay for it, then your only option not to pay for it is not to use train services in Kent as all ticket prices are to be raised next year with a levy to go towards the high speed domestic CTRL services.

Answer 21

because our tracks are rubbish and can't even cope with what we have now.

Answer 22

half my family live in llanelli (well drefach, bancffosfelen, pontyberem (i think i've spelt those right!))

it coz the tracks are rubbish! if normal trains can run coz there are leaves on the track, what chance have high speed trains got!

Answer 23

Because this country is c**p.

Take the bus its cheaper, and you will be able to get a seat.

Answer 24

A really simple answer - lack of monetary investment! And if you want really slow, try getting from Penzance to London...

The UK has not built any dedicated high speed lines. All British high speed trains run on tracks that were laid over 100 years ago, at a time where trains went a lot more slowly and relatively tight curves appeared a lot on mainlines. It is simply not possible to run at speed down a track with tight curves, it is uncomfortable and dangerous, trains have to slow down to go round the curve and speed up, but by the time they have speeded up there is a new curve. This is why high speed lines have been built in Europe to get around this problem, but Britain has not followed and there are no high speed lines in the UK.

Answer 25

The west coast main line (which links many of the main cities in the UK) is currently being upgraded at a cost of £2billion. To upgrade all lines to this standard would be uneconomical and impractical. The UK is quite small and compact and there are not the distances between stations to accelerate to high speeds and decelerate safely.