[News] Hs2 update.

[Leekbrookgull]

So the saga drags over budget and already late no surprise there, now looking like it won't actually get to the centre of London. Yet up here AWC get a productivity bonus and Trans Pennine appear to run train's as and when they like and we are told to go Green.

 

[jackalbion]

So the saga drags over budget and already late no surprise there, now looking like it won't actually get to the centre of London. Yet up here AWC get a productivity bonus and Trans Pennine appear to run train's as and when they like and we are told to go Green.

AWC are a car crash, just issued a do not travel for tomorrow as they don't have enough staff a joke of a company.

 

[A1X]

Be a surprise if it doesn't get to central London given they've already dug most of the tunnel to get into Euston and have started the rebuilding works there

 

[Wardy's twin]

On the face of it this was a poor project to use meagre government funds on. Cutting 20 mins off a train journey to London while doing nothing for the poor East/West links especially in the north and all the time actually running a not fit for purpose service across most of the country.

Can someone remind me what were the expected benefits of this projects to warrant the £100 billion plus expenditure?

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

The joke is that until recently, services from London to Birmingham and Manchester were fast and frequent. But try going cross-country and it's hopeless - that's where money needs to be spent.

 

[birthofanorange]

Can someone remind me what were the expected benefits of this projects to warrant the £100 billion plus expenditure?

Blue passports? Ah, that was the other thing, wasn't it.

 

[Pevenseagull]

On the face of it this was a poor project to use meagre government funds on. Cutting 20 mins off a train journey to London while doing nothing for the poor East/West links especially in the north and all the time actually running a not fit for purpose service across most of the country.

Can someone remind me what were the expected benefits of this projects to warrant the £100 billion plus expenditure?

The landowners on the route have been given their generous compensation so the don't really need to do it now.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The landowners on the route have been given their generous compensation so the don't really need to do it now.

Tory friends, relatives and neighbors per chance?

 

[Pevenseagull]

Tory friends, relatives and neighbors per chance?

... The clue's in the 'landowners '.

 

[Springal]

On the face of it this was a poor project to use meagre government funds on. Cutting 20 mins off a train journey to London while doing nothing for the poor East/West links especially in the north and all the time actually running a not fit for purpose service across most of the country.

Can someone remind me what were the expected benefits of this projects to warrant the £100 billion plus expenditure?

To be fair it’s more about capacity / routing than travel time is it not ? Basically any issue between London and the NW and the whole lot stops at the moment

 

[beorhthelm]

On the face of it this was a poor project to use meagre government funds on. Cutting 20 mins off a train journey to London while doing nothing for the poor East/West links especially in the north and all the time actually running a not fit for purpose service across most of the country.

Can someone remind me what were the expected benefits of this projects to warrant the £100 billion plus expenditure?

what's overlooked is the increased capacity it gives. having a second fast line means more local services on the existing line. remember everyone* supported this infrastructure investment originally, its become less popular with costs increasing and move to home working dimishing the use of rail (*except the BANANA types).

improvement to the East-West links should stand on their own merit, its not an either/or, you can do both.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

HS2 is being built less than a mile from my house and I follow the route for it on the way to work. In short, it is a royal pain in the arse. I may some personal bias but I've never worked out the benefit. The quickest train to Cov from London - Well used to be before the Avanti Shitshow came to town - was 57 minutes. Even the Steam train from Leamington Spa is an hour and a half. Yet, when I used to get to London at rush hour, i'd wait an age to get on the tube to Westminster way and can spend just as long doing the final bit on a bad day. Also, as others have mentioned, its not the London bit that needs fixing. Getting East to West isn't worth the hassle.

It never made sense pre covid, it certainly doesn't make any sense after and it really doesn't make any sense now the prices have shot up. It's just a gravy train for everyone employed building it. Stopping the train in the arse end of nowhere would fit the current plan quite well.

 

[A1X]

On the face of it this was a poor project to use meagre government funds on. Cutting 20 mins off a train journey to London while doing nothing for the poor East/West links especially in the north and all the time actually running a not fit for purpose service across most of the country.

Can someone remind me what were the expected benefits of this projects to warrant the £100 billion plus expenditure?

It frees up masses of capacity on the overcrowded WCML allowing better inter-town / inter-city rail travel along that corridor plus clears space for a lot more freight traffic which takes thousands of lorries off the road every year, as well as alleviating some fo the biggest bottlenecks on the UK rail network.

It's absolutely nothing to do with "shaving 20 minutes off a journey to London". That's akin to saying building the Amex was only done so we could have a heated pitch.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

To be fair it’s more about capacity / routing than travel time is it not ? Basically any issue between London and the NW and the whole lot stops at the moment

Supposedly, but that doesn't alter the argument that there's a large number of projects that would offer more obvious benefits for millions of people for less money.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Government pleads poverty yet still goes ahead with spending billions on a vanity project. Reminds me of BH Council - too poor to keep public toilets open but can still find money for cycle hangers, illuminated art for Madeira Drive and VG3.

It's time all public bodies were made to publish their accounts right down to the last penny - that way we the taxpayers and voters could see what is really wasted on unnecessary things.

 

[Randy McNob]

The joke is that until recently, services from London to Birmingham and Manchester were fast and frequent. But try going cross-country and it's hopeless - that's where money needs to be spent.

why can't we do all? The type of morons who argue we should scrap HS2 are typically the same plebs who used to argue how we should have cancelled the olympics while we were building the stadium because the cost was increasing and the country couldn't afford it

If you listen to people in politics or the media who keep saying we should scrap, cut back, freeze pay, get rid of this or that (lets be honest - a typically Tory mantra), but they are doing alright for themselves (thank you very much) then you've been had

 

[jackalbion]

what's overlooked is the increased capacity it gives. having a second fast line means more local services on the existing line. remember everyone* supported this infrastructure investment originally, its become less popular with costs increasing and move to home working dimishing the use of rail (*except the BANANA types).

improvement to the East-West links should stand on their own merit, its not an either/or, you can do both.

We may not have agreed previously on railways, but this is exactly the correct view on HS2. Trying to plan a train once an hour down the West Coast Mainline was difficult enough, to the point where its no longer goes to Milton Keynes.

 

[jackalbion]

Supposedly, but that doesn't alter the argument that there's a large number of projects that would offer more obvious benefits for millions of people for less money.

This will open the door for those projects, it does seem like a behemoth at the moment, but the benefits will be huge once completed.

 

[AmexRuislip]

why can't we do all? The type of morons who argue we should scrap HS2 are typically the same plebs who used to argue how we should have cancelled the olympics while we were building the stadium because the cost was increasing and the country couldn't afford it

If you listen to people in politics or the media who keep saying we should scrap, cut back, freeze pay, get rid of this or that (lets be honest - a typically Tory mantra), but they are doing alright for themselves (thank you very much) then you've been had

HS2 maybe someone's good idea in a wet dream they've had.
But when you see the mess and carnage it's created up here, you'd think twice.
What was once fine views of countryside is now mud piles for miles

 

[Westdene Seagull]

why can't we do all? The type of morons who argue we should scrap HS2 are typically the same plebs who used to argue how we should have cancelled the olympics while we were building the stadium because the cost was increasing and the country couldn't afford it

If you listen to people in politics or the media who keep saying we should scrap, cut back, freeze pay, get rid of this or that (lets be honest - a typically Tory mantra), but they are doing alright for themselves (thank you very much) then you've been had

We'll just ignore the compulsory purchases of peoples homes ( and businesses ) and the multi-billion pound cost for little gain ? I'm all for improving infrastructure but it needs to be the correct infrastructure, in the right place and for the right cost and benefit.