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Royal train to be cut in Palace cost-saving measure (www.bbc.co.uk)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/rail@feddit.uk
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[–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

To be replaced by helicopters. I despair

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Wrong timeline.

    Train has been replaced with other transport. Including high use of helicopters. Over the last several years. But more so since ERII death.

    So now it is just a cost sink to store and maintain.

    That said. If we ignore shutting the family down. (Honestly we are just now starting to see a majority support for that.) So any effort to do so in the past. Would have failed or been undemocratic. But most of us older folks expected more support for removal post ERII death then we actually see now.

    So accepting the job/roll existed.

    There are not many ways to safely transport such figures around efficiently. Even if trains were still used. The last mile issue is expanded hugely for public figures. Both due to the huge increase in urban traffic. And lack of smaller stations post Beaching.

    That said. I sorta like the image of Charles III strapped to multiple drones. Paradise PD Like.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Take the point about causality direction but it is about the broader impact of the fact that the policy of the last decades towards the railway has been somewhere between managed decline and life support. An industrial strategy that recognised rail for its primary role in decarbonisation and the future of transport (rather than false horizons and gadgets) would have reduced the cost of maintainance and storage as well as eased the capacity issues that make it logistically and economically hard for its use (which I believe has also been an issue).

    Can't comment on support for monarchy and ERII death. I imagine that most people fail to see it as an issue that materially affects them with the governance issues being largely hidden from view.

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    • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    That's a real shame. Trains are cool.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    Agreed. But not really practical for this task now.

    Last mile has always been an issue. But hugely more so for any Public figure. Loved or hated. When you consider the density of traffic etc.

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    • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    The ol' "capex into opex".

    They'll move the family into the cloud next.

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