allantracy <allanbintracy@ireland.com> wrote:

>When you consider developments over the years in Edinburgh,
>Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and even Sheffield clearly Birmingham
>should have by now, at the very least, extended its Metro and solved
>the New St congestion problem to allow for more heavy rail expansion.


Liverpool doesn't have a "Metro" in the Tyne and Wear sense and it
doesn't have trams either.  Perhaps you meant Nottingham?

If you were referring to the Merseyrail train services then I don't
think Birmingham is in any way inferior.  Liverpool is probably just
as dependent on bus services for its public transport as Birmingham.

Liverpool used to have an excellent network of tram services but that
system was closed in the 1950s.  There was a proposal for a tram
system a few years ago but it foundered because of high costs, and the
fact that the local council would have to take all the risk of
construction cost overruns.  

Even after being offered central government funding, the council
withdrew the proposal because the risk was considered unacceptable.
Shades of Edinburgh?  But Edinburgh foolishly went ahead.