MMD69 - Open to read about cracking trains, how its hard to be an activist and a transport planner, and a forthcoming battle on planning reform in the UK
Mobilty Matters Daily #69
Cracking trains, Hitachi
The new intercity trains on the UK rail network ran into a bit of a problem this weekend. A Hitachi Class 800 train, commonly known as the Intercity Express Train or Azuma, operated by Great Western Railway was found to have severe cracks on the welds of the jacking points, leading to all trains being withdrawn from service. Considering this is nearly all intercity trains from London Paddington to the West of England, and most intercity trains out of London Kings Cross, its caused a bit of a problem.
It’s not all bad news. The trains are coming back into service as soon as they are checked over, and it is not uncommon for new trains to have unforeseen issues. You can test a train on test tracks and put it through simulators, but until they have done thousands of miles in service then problems like this won’t become apparent. But its the sort of problem the rail industry can do without. With use of the rail network at around 40% of what it was pre-COVID, withdrawing trains for potentially expensive fixes disrupts those who have chosen to travel.
UK Rail News reporting on the Hitachi Class 800 issue | Current transport use statistics for the UK
Being an activist and a transport planner is when you blend the professional and the personal, no matter how much you want to keep them apart
Sadly, last week I missed what I understand was an excellent event held by the Transport Planning Society on the Politics of Protest in Transport. But it made me think about the role of professionals as activists, and how we tread the line between doing a professional job, and doing what we care about. There are no hard and fast rules for this.
How do you balance working for a company that helps build roads because it pays your bills, with your environmental activism? An easy route out is slacktivism where you simply repost something on a personal social media profile. But its more about identifying where your personal and professional lives can conflict, and developing a strategy for managing that conflict. Also, challenging your own biases always helps.
Social media advocacy shouldn’t end with slacktivism | Will your activism clash with your career? | The personal risk of climate activism
Does the UK take its time and deliver better housing, or react quickly and deliver more housing?
Planning reform will be a big topic this week, as the UK Government’s planning proposals will be put into the Queen’s Speech. I won’t comment on the relative merits of these, but link transport planning into housing where, as Transport for New Homes has shown, there is a lot of room for improvement if you want people to travel sustainably. A conflict i often here is how planners, quick for a decision, rush decisions on transport which need consideration, and can impact the layout of the scheme.
Planning is often a battleground where several issues collide. Here, the issues of affordability of land and property (which is a huge issue), housing delivery, climate change, accessibility and social issues. The excellent UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence has data mapping the complexity of these issues, but a quick synthesis says that huge new house building is needed if you take no measures to reduce demand for housing (e.g, taxation). So here is a question for transport planners. If the price of getting sustainable and carbon neutral travel from developments results in house prices being driven ever higher, is that a worthwhile price?
Planning reform will lead to ‘a tidal wave of car traffic’ | Transport for New Homes Report 2018 | UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence Data Navigator