Rail/road research call
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MORE STUDIES are needed on the potential for converting railways in parts of London into roads, says the British Road Federation.
I commented last week on a recent Coopers and Lybrand study for British Rail, which BR said showed the advantages of conversion were "not worth the distraction they cause to running a railway" and found only limited potential for conversion.
But the BRF claims that insufficient research has been conducted by Coopers and Lybrand, and says there are advantages where a rail conversion would divert traffic away from already overcrowded roads at relatively low cost, where it is easy to make the conversion, and where the railway is not vital to the rest of British Rail.
It wants the Department of Transport to conduct an impartial study into the potential for each selected section of railway, taking account of the net benefits of converting or not convert ing. • Account would be taken of time saved, operating costs, accident savings, construction and maintenance effects, and land costs. These would be viewed both from the point of view of BR and road users.