Hurrah! I see the BBC News website is reporting the opening of the new, super-duper depot for those lovely high speed Japanese trains here in the Millionaires' Playground. It won't be long before I'm being whisked to important appointments with TV executives in London in less time than it takes to say 'I ----ed Russell Brand's grandmother'! Er, which I didn't, I hasten to add.The depot has cost £35m to build and will create 160 jobs, more than our polluting airport has managed in a decade, and so much better for the environment than all those lorries and concrete the local Tory duffers want to pour on poor old Acol, without any clear idea of whether it'll create any jobs at all.
The best bit is the new service will take me into St Pancras which, as we all know, is a mere hop, skip and jump from the heart of the known creative universe - Norf London. After all, the only reason I can think of for going to Victoria is to collect your OBE for services to broadcasting!
Trainspotters click here to read full story on BBC website
12 comments:
Will the train stop at Ramsgate or Margate?
thanks Lily
Yes, apparently there will be services from both Ramsgate and Margate, although naturally, in keeping with Ramsgate's position as the isle's premier town, they will be more frequent and faster from the Millionaires' Playground. I hope.
Looks good, restricted speed to Canterbury and onward to Ashford then at the higher speed to Ebbsfleet and then St Pancras. Due to open in Dec 2009 according to the SouthEastern website
http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/content/doc/cms/Feb%202008%20High%20Speed%20Network%20Route%20Map.pdf
Nige
The North kent line will have a restricted fast service due to the physical bottle neck at Rochester Bridge.
The Stour valley line is being upgraded as we speak, signaling being the major investment.
Ramsgate will get more services than Margate, and trains will probably only stop at Canterbury, Ashford, leaving out the tiny stations. Its the stopping and starting that bu**ers up the journey times
and what do our lovely council say about it? nack all.
I would quite like our Toursim council rep to be singing its praises, advertiseing Thanets micro climate, upteen blue flag beaches, harbour, turner centre (if they must) to the London masses, and get them to buy up our abundant decaying Victorian mansions and bring prosperity back to the area.
I don't know about anyone else, but that seems like a more realistic way forward than art lovers flocking to margate, vegatable pickers at Thanet Earth, or baggage handlers at manston swelling our towns coffers very much.
Tourism? Singing praises? You must be joking Steve. They're proposing swingeing cuts to the tourism budget next year!
Actually our local council were partially responsible for gaining this depot. Both Labour and Conservative administrations lobbied the strategic rail authority to get these trains to Ramsgate.
I do know, because on at least two occasions I was part of the delegation, and we had a long foght against Folkestone, Dover, and Canterbury to get the depot here!
Good to hear the Council has done something positive for the area, as it has saddly let down Thanet in so many other areas, from town centres, libraries, Dreamland, etc etc etc
I heard it was by more luck than lobbying.
If Canterbury had had enough space in the station yard we would not be seeing the train coming out to Thanet.
Ramsgate had a larger station yard so benfitted from the need to have somwhere to put the trains, nothing really to do with the council.
I've heard it said that high-speed railway line will benefit Manston because people will be able to get to the airport more quickly. However, surely the converse is true; that the high-speed train will enable East Kent residents to reach the London airports more quickly? With Stansted given the green-light to expand and gorgeous Gordon due to approve a third runway at Heathrow this week, isn't it time for the Council to admit that Manston was a bad idea supported by arrogant and stupid people? The reliance on airport development to regenerate Thanet has cost us ten years. I say it's time for a clean sweep of all of the idiots who took us down this road.
7:38pm. 10 years of a labour government and unprecedented economic growth across the country - Thanet stands still, or even retracts while an airfiled stands effectively empty in the middle of it.
You can can see the link, many others can, unfortunately our council become oblivious to any other potential problem with an idea if its labelled "Job Creation" at the top.
Thanet Earth - 550 jobs, but light pollution galore, truck polution galore, we've lost prime agriculural land where brownfield sites would have been just as good
China Gateway - a large industrial estate on a green field site, no-one knows how many jobs it will create, neither does the council, who will actually live there, aznd what they will do. But hell, if you say there are going to be jobs, I'll beleive you.
Westwood -no idea how many jobs, but must be hundreds, and manages to kill off Ramsgate and Margate town centres by offering free parking verese the Towns not so free
Manston - 10,000 jobs. was an army airbase, therefore not subject to any planning rules. Located at the ar$e end of the country, so everyone (apart from 150,000 locals) would all come down the A299 to get to it. Neatly located 75 miles from London, our nations Capital which draws the vast majority of our inward flight traffic, but unfortunately thats furtehr than at least 4 other airports.
I'd say our council get it wrong on every major decision they have had to make.
But why isn't our local press exposing the failures of local democracy and acting as a platform for those who want change? My perception of the local paper is that it prints what the Council gives it to print verbatim. Local activists are prevented from airing their views (which are often the views of many thousands of people) and Councillors fill the letters pages sniping at one another (when they should, instead, be using their elected position to air their views in the Council chamber). Thanet is a basket-case but change cannot happen whilst the local press is so hopeless. Where else would the appalling Tesco bag story have been so effectivelyt buried? In Surrey there's have ben a public lynching.
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