HS2 not dead ?

morgan · Post by **morgan** » Fri Jan 06, 12 8:12 am

As I dragged my tired bones into work this morning, slumped over the steering wheel, one eye open, the radio told me that HS2 (the railway thing) isnt dead yet ?!

I thought that had died a while ago but apparently we are considering £17bn quid to get to Birmingham 30 mins faster still ? Can that be right ? (I mean, I know rail prices are steep, but £17bn seems excessive).

They were talking about "keeping up with europe". I thought we were not talking to europe anymore ?

I cant keep up. Happy new year. I'm going back to bed.

Charger · Post by **Charger** » Fri Jan 06, 12 8:53 am

I didn’t think it had died, but, yes, I heard that this morning too

no way can £17bn be justified to save 30 mins off of a 118mi journey, similar for the proposed later HS link to Manchester, another £xxbn to save 20mins off of the current journey time

sadly that £17bn is the price we have to pay for the lack of investment in the railways by successive governments since the middle of the last century

having said that, I don’t see what’s wrong with the Pendolino services that run now (but then I’m biased

)

latil · Post by **latil** » Fri Jan 06, 12 9:08 am

£17 bn needs spending on the entire network to improve lines and replace certain important bits cut by Beeching,not spent all on one line that is plenty quick enough.

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Fri Jan 06, 12 9:45 am

latil wrote:£17 bn needs spending on the entire network to improve lines and replace certain important bits cut by Beeching,not spent all on one line that is plenty quick enough.

Absolutely right Steve, commuters need to get to work quickly and efficiently, large multi-national companies (I work for several) have already said they'll continue to increase the use of out of town locations for business meetings...that's when they are not internet conferencing to save travel costs anyway.

I can't believe the government is being led by the nose on this one on a project that is likely to benefit few, they could go for RP2 and save billions or stack the current West Coast Main Line benefiting from the current infrastructure and achieve exactly the same result for half the money in half the time.

Don't get me started on this one!

latil · Post by **latil** » Fri Jan 06, 12 1:59 pm

ITV news at lunchtime says MP's are voting on this next week and the total cost is now £42 bn

Dave81 · Post by **Dave81** » Fri Jan 06, 12 5:00 pm

latil wrote:ITV news at lunchtime says MP's are voting on this next week and the total cost is now £42 bn

You would hope due to current economic conditions, it would at least be shelved until the recession is over, if not cancelled all together.

All those public sector workers losing there job and having hours slashed, yet they can think about spending £42,000,000,000.00.........

TYREMAN · Post by **TYREMAN** » Fri Jan 06, 12 5:08 pm

They should put that money into making the existing public transport more attractive to use, more carriages for starters.
If you work in London 9 to 5 then fine

but anywhere else in the country especially working shift patterns you just can not rely on it

At this moment in time most people need there own personal transport if they want to hold a job down,and that is getting almost impossible now to afford if your young and on the minimun wage.

Gareth · Post by **Gareth** » Fri Jan 06, 12 5:40 pm

Dave81 wrote:
latil wrote:ITV news at lunchtime says MP's are voting on this next week and the total cost is now £42 bn
You would hope due to current economic conditions, it would at least be shelved until the recession is over, if not cancelled all together.

All those public sector workers losing there job and having hours slashed, yet they can think about spending £42,000,000,000.00.........

The government have committed to invest in major infrastructure projects such as road and rail improvements partly due to the potential benefits of increased employment opportunities among others. Canceling the project may not be the simple cost saving solution it would appear to be on the surface.

Charger · Post by **Charger** » Sat Jan 07, 12 10:13 pm

tonight it's looking like it might go ahead ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16453869

how to waste £17bn in 30mins

db · Post by db » Sun Jan 08, 12 9:38 am

It's that 1% mentality again...

Instead of spending money where it would benefit us ALL, or even better NOT spending money we don't even HAVE...

...these ever more out-of-touch morons take on another huge debt to buy a shiny new toy for use by the 1%, which the remaining 99% of us will be paying for for YEARS to come.

Who voted these Bananarama! in anyway???

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sun Jan 08, 12 10:07 am

I am sorry to say that all mainstream parties are supporting this fiasco...........bunch of wasters, all of them.........

TYREMAN · Post by **TYREMAN** » Sun Jan 08, 12 11:05 am

They say it creates jobs,have you tried getting a job on the railways? not easy!! my mates lad Adam went for an engineering apprenticeship,there were something like 20 thousand applicants for a few places.He got down to the last few and had to Go to York for a few days for assessment.

HE did not get a place just missed out

you would think he was trying to get in the SAS not just a job where you fix railway lines

Have you seen how long it will take!

probably go way over budget like most things if its worked out at today's prices

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Jan 09, 12 1:34 pm

Very interesting deabate. Ill informed, highly subjective and not particularly fact based, but interesting all the same.

A good grasp of social economics would be beneficial here

Did anone on here know that it costs on AVERAGE £79M per mile to widen a motorway by one lane, and £74M per mile on average, to installa a pair of railway tracks for 1 mile. (2011 figures)

Please note, I said on AVERAGE (this balances higher costs in urban areas and lower in rural with all the existing structure - related issues accounted for.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Mon Jan 09, 12 1:40 pm

The only thing I have against it is that it only goes to Birmingham and back. The East Coast line would be of more benefit to more people.
But a lot more expensive.

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Mon Jan 09, 12 1:46 pm

Well it looks like the white elephant is going to go ahead...now let's see the proposed costs double, when all the snouts get into the trough...