HS2

[stefanovic]

It's not going to Leeds and now it may not even go into London.
It's created a complete mess and angered local communities.
Birmingham to London already has 3 train operators. Avanti, Chiltern, London Northwestern.

My horror complete after seeing this dreadful tunnel at Burton Green where a new housing estate is right by.
https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/tunnels/green-tunnels/burton-green-tunnel/

 

[Imurg]

HS2 sucks the biggest one there has ever been......
Dreamed up by Muppets, commissioned by Muppets, designed by Muppets, OK'd by Muppets and being built by Muppets....
You should see the mess they're making around here...and they haven't built any of the track yet....

 

[Tashyboy]

HS2 sucks the biggest one there has ever been......
Dreamed up by Muppets, commissioned by Muppets, designed by Muppets, OK'd by Muppets and being built by Muppets....
You should see the mess they're making around here...and they haven't built any of the track yet....

Yeah but think of the benefits ?????

 

[Imurg]

The only benefit is that it's keeping thousands of people in employment.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

The only benefit is that it's keeping thousands of people in employment.

It's an absolute gravy train. I know people working on it, happy days for the firms involved. Not so good for those picking up the bill, us ☹.

What's the record for the greatest overspend in history? I'll be amazed if this doesn't end up in the top 5 by the end.

I'm happy for the small section of the country that will benefit ???

 

[clubchamp98]

All HS2 was ever going to do was make the rest of the mid England a suburb of London.
the pandemic proved you don’t need to move people around as much ,just use zoom.
I feel sorry for people who lost homes and businesses to this White Elephant.

 

[Neilds]

It's an absolute gravy train. I know people working on it, happy days for the firms involved. Not so good for those picking up the bill, us ☹.

What's the record for the greatest overspend in history? I'll be amazed if this doesn't end up in the top 5 by the end.

I'm happy for the small section of the country that will benefit ???

Bristol Beacon - formerly Colston Hall before the woke police got involved is having a refit. It was originally about £25m, this week the council upped the budget to £134 m?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Bristol Beacon - formerly Colston Hall before the woke police got involved is having a refit. It was originally about £25m, this week the council upped the budget to £134 m?

X 5 and a bit, that's impressive ??

 

[clubchamp98]

X 5 and a bit, that's impressive ??

Think Space exploration will have the highest cost.
but not usually taxpayers cash.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Ah well…Sydney Opera House was 14x over budget for the building as originally proposed, knocking into a hat the Scottish Parliament building overspend of 8x original budget.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Think Space exploration will have the highest cost.
but not usually taxpayers cash.

It's a big cost, I'm not a fan, but I don't know where it stands on the scale of overspend?

 

[stefanovic]

Original budget £30 billion, progressively gone up to £160 billion.
We could've sent a man to Mars for how much it will cost in the end.
A vanity project which is still likely to be 15-20 years from completion.

If it's ever completed it will come in at budget. Something like the 10th one.
Why didn't we get the French to build it? They did in Morocco.

 

[Jensen]

It’s a total disgrace and a complete waste of money. With connectivity, zoom, Wi-Fi the minutes saved in travelling does not equate to the cost.
When I lived in Wallington, Surrey between 1981-83, my next door neighbour was Mark Thurston who is now in charge of this complete waste of money. However at least he’s being paid extremely well ?

 

[CliveW]

Can someone please explain what the reason behind HS2 is? My understanding was that it would cut the travelling time between London and Birmingham by 20 minutes. Can commuters not get up 20 minutes earlier?

 

[Rooter]

Can someone please explain what the reason behind HS2 is? My understanding was that it would cut the travelling time between London and Birmingham by 20 minutes. Can commuters not get up 20 minutes earlier?

Behave clive with your logical thinking!

 

[stefanovic]

Can someone please explain what the reason behind HS2 is? My understanding was that it would cut the travelling time between London and Birmingham by 20 minutes. Can commuters not get up 20 minutes earlier?

BR is a Victorian railway system, so it does need new lines.

 

[D-S]

Can someone please explain what the reason behind HS2 is? My understanding was that it would cut the travelling time between London and Birmingham by 20 minutes. Can commuters not get up 20 minutes earlier?

These commuters might just be voters in marginal seats!

 

[Imurg]

Can someone please explain what the reason behind HS2 is? My understanding was that it would cut the travelling time between London and Birmingham by 20 minutes. Can commuters not get up 20 minutes earlier?

That was the original selling point until they realised the terminals at either end of the London to Birmingham stretch were a 20 minute bus ride from the centre of either city.
They then shifted focus onto increasing capacity.
Running anything up to 7 trains an hour in either direction it would increase capacity to the point where most of those trains would be virtually empty...
The line through my area, Aylesbury Vale, has been surveyed by independent surveyors who belive that if the speed of the trains isn't dropped from 250mph to 150mph there is a real probability that the shock wave created by each train will cause sufficient ground movement to collapse the ballast that supports the line causing derailment.....unless millions of tonnes of concrete isninjected into the ground to stabilise the ground.....
What could possibly go wrong...

 

[nickjdavis]

Can someone please explain what the reason behind HS2 is? My understanding was that it would cut the travelling time between London and Birmingham by 20 minutes. Can commuters not get up 20 minutes earlier?

no because that would mean simply that they have to wait 20 extra minutes for the train to arrive....assuming it wasn't delayed....probably by engineering works

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Can someone please explain what the reason behind HS2 is? My understanding was that it would cut the travelling time between London and Birmingham by 20 minutes. Can commuters not get up 20 minutes earlier?

This was an incredibly poor bit of marketing at the very beginning, thinking it would appeal to people. Instead it was roundly mocked and been a millstone ever since. The reality is it is about capacity. The current network is rammed with no wriggle room. They need more lines and this is, supposedly the best way to do it.

Whether you agree with that, believe it is cost effective, believe it is once again London centric etc is another matter.