Not On-Line

I am a railway fan - not the anorak type - but someone who finds that rail is still the most civilized way to travel and I would support all realistic proposals to improve the current network (TGVs anyone?). However when I read proposals such as this http://dylanje.blogspot.com:80/2008/06/north-south-rail-links-new-approach_24.html I wonder which planet people are on.

A dual-track line built to a similar standard as the Marches line would be hideously expensive. It would be unfeasible to
re-use the routes of closed lines such as the Mid-Wales Railway (MWR) because they, frankly, were built on the cheap way back in the
1860s and were awful railways in the first place - slow, poor capacity, tight alignments, narrow tunnels etc (the narrow
tunnel bit is interesting - not all lines were built to the same loading guage and to save money some - such as the MWR - were
built to a basic a standard as possible!) and so, in effect, a new railway would have to built from scratch - if double track....and frankly you could forget that.

The problem with single track is that it wouldn't help North-South communications one jot: fast services would be impossible
owing to the need for passing places and if old trackbeds were re-used then they would keep the speed down. So we would have the situation
of a long-distance local service - not much different to the current situation on the Heart of Wales or the Cambrian routes where maximum speeds are limited (70MPH tops on the Cambrian Main Line; much less on the Coast and the HoW). A rebuilding of lines to link the North and South of Wales is romantic rubbish.