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EU says UK's railways must become metric.
steveh31
Posts: 13,516 Forum Member
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http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/554253/Safety-fears-EU-demands-rail-network-UK-go-metric
Until the changeover drivers will have to use trains which have the new metric system and the old miles system which could cause confusion.
Until the changeover drivers will have to use trains which have the new metric system and the old miles system which could cause confusion.
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We didn't fight the Germans so they could tell us how to measure things. Nigel Farage for PM, etc
Actually, I'm all for the metric system. It makes a lot more sense.
I use a mix of metric and imperial measurements daily.
40 years from now, we'll still be hearing the excuse that elderly people will find it confusing, even though these elderly people will be people of my age who have been taught metric in schools and work with it on a daily basis.
You are right though, it is stupid. For example, the fuel economy of a car is quoted in miles per gallon but fuel is sold by the litre
Frankly the ridiculous notion of the UK clinging to such an outdated imperial system makes us a laughing stock in the eyes of the rest of the world, and this steadfast refusal to come into alignment with most other countries actually does our reputation more harm than good.
I also think that the many people who kick off against these things, far from being viewed by others as being proud to be British, defending our heritage etc, are viewed as eccentric, unyielding and frankly a little bit odd by others.
I grew up with imperial measures, and also pre decimalisation etc...but frankly metric was far easier and simpler to get my head round. Basically of you can count to ten, you can understand metric very quickly and easily.
But the people that kick against it do so for a couple of reasons - firstly the actual issue of what they are being asked to do ( a very simple conversion) becomes secondary to the notion of exactly who is telling them to do it, as is usually hammered home and emphasised repeatedly in such articles.
And second because I think frankly there is a certain amount of fear from certain people that comes with being asked to learn something new, and that typical 'I have done it for years why change now' attitude. The concept of what they are being asked to do is secondary, its the typical 'why should I' response.
I suppose the difference is that train drivers are trained professionals and should be well prepared for the changeover.
When using metric for fuel consumption, it is typically in litres/100km, I think. So, whereas in mpg a higher value of fuel consumption is better, in metric countries, they prefer a lower value.
But I'm all for metric. The only imperial measures I use are miles when I'm driving. For everything else it's metric all the way. And as for age - I went to school in the early 70s and I was taught in metric. It was a new school at the time which probably helped but I can honestly say I've never been taught imperial measurements. They are something I've picked up along the way - like dog poo
How's it done?
I was a little earlier than you. I left school in 1971 to study engineering at university. Most of my schooling was in imperial meaurements. University was pretty much all metric. Then I started work and everyone I worked with was older, and used imperial measures for everything. As I was in engineering, it wasn't just lengths, weights and volumes that changed between metric and imperial, it was all the other engineering units as well.
Yes, USA. No, Europe. Yes, Europe. No, USA.
No doubt our spineless politicans'll give in to Brussels or negotiate instead of telling them to fick selbst
Or go the whole hog and revert to imperial.
Nice to see what the EU has to worry about these days .
That's what is a bit stupid about the British relationship with the EU. We tend to piss and moan about things but do them anyway.
That would be fun! However, I think even the French use standard gauge, they must do, or Eurotunnel would have an interesting problem on it's hands.
I don't get why we in the UK don't just bite the bullet and do it rather than using a mixture of both. There aren't really any valid excuses for not doing it.
True but we still think imperial for the most part, i guess in 20-30 years we'll be metric in the mind as well as body.
If conforming to ERTMS makes our railways even safer, I have no problem with UK railways going metric. It's as simple as that.
Most of the world uses standard gauge in terms of line mileage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_gauge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_gauge#Installations
And by high speed lines, we are talking mainly about France, Germany, Spain, Italy, China and Japan.
To be fair I think it is reasonable to assume the rest of the world probably aren't that bothered.
In my job I work with both Americans and Europeans and, to be honest, having knowledge of both Imperial and Metric comes in very useful.