How about rebuilding the rail line to Bourne End? (From Bucks Free Press)

How about rebuilding the rail line to Bourne End?

7:08pm Thursday 1st December 2011 in Editor's Chair

THOSE who read my rants against the A40 bus lane may assume I hate buses. No, not at all – it’s merely the lane that I loathe.

I love public transport, but as I’ve said many times over the years, the whole system here is wrong.

Logic and customer practicality have been sacrificed on the altar of ideology and gesture politics.

The authorities are happy enough to build useless bus lanes presumably because a bus lane is green and scores politicians a tick in the box for ‘saving the world’.

Equally, the Government appears to love unpopular schemes such as High Speed 2 rail because, even though this may decimate our countryside, it will show that the UK is investing in cutting edge modern transport to link our major cities.

So the pin-striped suit brigade who want to get from London to Birmingham are happy because they may save a few minutes off their journey times. And the relatively few non-drivers who use buses are pleased because their trip from Loudwater to High Wycombe town centre is a tad quicker.

Well, I am pleased for those people, I really am, but how about investing any available money and energy in projects that will better target the genuine public need?

Rather than creating High Speed 2, which doesn’t even stop in Bucks, how about rebuilding the rail line from High Wycombe to Bourne End that was torn up around 40 years ago? If they did that, they could link up Wycombe directly with Maidenhead and Marlow, rather than forcing train passengers to go all the way into Paddington.

Logistically it would be difficult to recreate an old line but not anywhere as hard as stuffing a giant new one through our precious Chilterns countryside.

Studies have already been carried out by the High Wycombe Society which suggested a modern light railway running between the two disconnected Bucks stations.

Apparently the old track is largely intact with its own tunnel under the M40, but two years ago county council bosses said the restoration wasn’t financially viable.

It beats me then that there is enough money for HS2 but not sufficient cash for a sensible project such as this.

But back to the buses. I have no gripe against the operators themselves who do a good job in difficult circumstances, but there is currently no real incentive to use buses instead of cars and taxis.

I’m sorry to say our buses are far too expensive and inflexible. It’s fine if you want a longish ride along a major route in peak hours, but heaven help you if you need a short off-peak hop anywhere.

Mrs Editor’s Chair and our son often use buses when they are lugging heavy objects home from school. The other day as they carried a guitar and several bags, they decided to give their legs a rest and take a short one-stop ride from opposite The Rye in High Wycombe to the cricket ground. The cost for an adult and a child was £1.85 – for a journey along just a short stretch of road.

It may not sound very much but it would be a fortune if you did that on a regular basis. When I’m with them in town, we always get a taxi – not because I’m flash, but because it’s no more expensive for three people and it gets you door to door. What possible incentive would there be for anyone to give up cars?

And why does the Government copy countries with high speed rail solutions, rather than the ones who have well subsidised affordable public transport systems?

If carbon monoxide fumes ever do destroy our planet from over-use of cars, what will our politicians in High Wycombe say they did to try to stop pollution in the town?

Did they try to get people out of their vehicles with a fully-integrated round-the-clock affordable transport network?

No, but at least they can say they built a single confusing bus lane that goes in one direction only and is never enforced.

That’s all right then.