I would like to comment on a statement by Oxfordshire County Council leader, Ian Hudspeth, on the subject of transport.

This is because at full council on July 1, I put forward a motion asking the council to investigate whether tram-trains might be a possible answer to some of the transport problems of central Oxfordshire.

Sadly, the motion was very narrowly defeated.

It was put forward because, on the continent, tram-trains are increasingly seen as a solution to the kind of problems Oxford faces.

They are vehicles which not only run on dedicated lines, but also use existing heavy rail facilities, usually with only minimal alterations.

They thus obviate the need to clutter up town and city centres with either catenaries or tram lines. They have proved a success in Karlsruhe and Lyon and are to be trialled in the UK in the Sheffield area. They can move large numbers of people quickly in environmentally friendly ways.

The Witney corridor would, in our view, be an ideal area to introduce this technology. Tram-trains can also run on roads (eg at Eynsham) with appropriate signalling. This project could be fitted into Network Rail’s current programme if anything else slips or cannot be achieved, but we do need to ask the question.

Finally, I cannot understand the leader’s obsession with monorails: they are expensive to install and maintain and have low capacity.

Do we really want a row of huge pylons striding along the A40 and then down the Woodstock Road?

Most are only found in fantasy theme parks – the best place for them.

Cllr BOB JOHNSTON, Lib Dem, Kennington and Radley, Kennington Road, Kennington

 

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