Wesley Stevenson

speaker

1,470 appearances 54 recordings 1 series first heard Sep 2010 last heard May 2015

Wesley Stevenson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Appearances

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More or Less · Trouble on the Greek railways (WS) · 14 May 2012 podcast

Can you tell me how much it would be to take a taxi from Thessaloniki to Athens? voice-verified

700 euros. voice-verified

And how far is it? voice-verified

Do you know? voice-verified

OK, that's brilliant. voice-verified

Well, thank you very much for that. voice-verified

This looks like another convenient story that fits the narrative of Greek waste, but like so many others, it just isn't true. voice-verified

Yes, I think that's right. voice-verified

And Panos Prevedouros, a professor of transport engineering at the University of Hawaii... Hang on, you've been discussing the Greek Rail Network with a bloke in Hawaii? voice-verified

Well, yes, of course. voice-verified

He's an expert in this sort of thing, and he paints a pretty bleak picture of the Greek Railway. voice-verified

Panos points out there are other good alternatives to the train other than taxis. voice-verified

Not to mention the money that could be made selling off the potentially more profitable routes, the rolling stock and the other assets. voice-verified

But isn't the elephant in the room the fact that the Greek railway itself has huge debts? voice-verified

Yes, and in the past, the Greek government has acted as a guarantor for the money the railway borrowed, which is something other European states do. voice-verified

But the difference with the Greek railways is it had a turnover in the low hundreds of millions, but it was able to borrow in the billions. voice-verified

And in 2010, its debt was $10 billion and cost $520 million in interest payments. voice-verified

So even if the Greeks closed the system today and told everybody to use coaches, the Greek government would still be on the hook for all these huge debts. voice-verified

More or Less · The formula that changed the world · 27 Apr 2012 podcast

Wesley Stevenson's here. matched

What do you make of all this, Wes? matched

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