Returning to a question raised in The Times back in February, which discussed replacing existing rail lines with roads. If I'm reading the signals correctly, soon, electronic systems will create not only driverless cars but truck and coach convoys where individual vehicles will travel within centimetres of each other, all controlled by the leading unit. At any time, a vehicle will be able to leave or join a convoy in order to complete its own specific journey. These new units will have all the advantages of railway and road transport combined in terms of aerodynamics, load capacity and versitility. With high speed distance travel already dominated by aircraft, the railway will soon be outmoded and unsustainable. What better use for their valuable space and significant routes than to be converted to tarmac.
