| With news this week that a full
upgrade of the West Coast link between Glasgow and London is ruled out on cost grounds,
operator Virgin Trains is to re-think plans to introduce new rolling stock on the route. As
previously reported In the JT, plans to introduce the Italian-built IL Pendolino
high-speed train had been scrapped in favour of the much slower IL Stationaro to cope with
the dilapidated track.
Be-bearded ex-hippie type Richard Branson told the JT
this week that now even that option has been scrapped. "It's clear that the proposed
renovation of the rail bed would not now be able to stand the weight of a two power cars
and carriages array even when completely stationary, so it's back to the drawing
board." |
It is thought now that intending
passengers at both termini will now simply sit in carriages while a sophisticated virtual
reality system simulates the 400 mile journey. At the end of the
"trip", passengers on the new IL Ilusionaro will receive a false memory implant
fooling their brains into thinking they’ve actually been somewhere.
"It’s a much more energy efficient solution" concedes Professor
Beaker of Strathclyde’s Department of Virtual Transport Studies, "and allows the
government to concentrate resources on the airline industry, by subsidising aircraft fuel
and further fuckin’ up the ozone layer ." |
