Well I do, wanting an integrated service (not the mess in Britain) and not seeing much sense in paying the deficits of a low-traffic line (always vulnerable to cost-cutting demands) but not getting the profits of high-traffic lines.
Who is going to pay for changing the gauge of the Spanish network?
Well, gauge changing is not part of the unification of technical standards, so I suspect the grand Spanish gauge-changing plan will only be paid for by the Spanish state, unless some structural or other EU funds can be tapped. (Some of the gauge-changing is in a way pre-financed, BTW: the track of upgraded Spanish broad-gauge lines like the Corredor Mediterráneo was fitted with special sleepers, on which gauge changing is a relatively simple task.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
How does the EU expect French operators to operate in Spain?
Well, on international passenger lines, that will be easy: when the line across the Perthus tunnel opens, no gauge problem. But French (or Italian, or German, or private SPanish) operators can buy gauge-changing trains, too. Freight is another issue, but one limiting even traditional transport with handover at borders. I somehow feel Ricardo's Principle is at work here. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I was very surprised to learn a few years ago that Talgo had been chosen to provide the trains for the American line between Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
And recently, CAF sold its own 250 km/h train (but in a non-gauge-changing verson) to Turkey, for service from 2007 or 2008 (most of the Ankara-Istambul line will by then be upgraded for 250 km/h) - beating rivals from Europe and Japan. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
