HS2/High Speed 2 - Will it happen?

BennyC · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:46

Appologies if there is an existing thread my search skills will have failed me.

A colleague brought this up today and having had a closer look it appears that it'll be running pretty damn close from where I will be living come the time it is complete, assuming I'm still living there.

You can check and see if it's anywhere near you here:

http://highspeedrail.dft.gov.uk/in-your-area

And voice any thoughts or opinions by the 29th of July here:

https://highspeedrail.dft.gov.uk/have-your-say

This isn't a 'Say no to HS2' thread as some of you might be all for it. However I'd be interested to hear peoples views on whether or not you think it's likely to happen with so much opposition in place?

Edit: Having looked at a few local council's verdicts they all show heavy opposition & concern. Do you think this will have any bearing or are the government 'tunnel visioned', pardon the pun.

BennyC

Danthus · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:48

How may objections are purely NIMBY?

Morbius · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:49

We could use more east to west lines that don't go through London. That would be more beneficial.

Glaucus · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:49

I don't understand why people are so against it.
I don't think it's the right direction but it's not a bad thing.

We should be opening up more local stations, looking at double decker trains, and compulsory buying land back, to install qaud tracks. Less about speed and more about larger cheaper capacity inter city and far far more stops on shuttle service.

Sunbed · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:49

I can hardly see any justification for it other than it needs to happen at some point because the West Coast Main line in close to max capacity.

Either way it won't happen for a while.

I can think of far better things to spend the money on quite honestly. National high speed broadband as a start...

Spook187 · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:50

The country needs it,this should bring a lot work in for me so i am in favor..

Glaucus · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:51

OldCoals said:
How may objections are purely NIMBY?

60%, 35% green people and 5% genuine concern.

J.B · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:52

It runs pretty close to a few of my friends. One lives by Wendover train station already so whats the problem? The other it cuts through the far end of her farm.

Personally I'm all for it, viva la progress!

J.B · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:52

AcidHell2 said:
60%, 45% green people and 5% genuine concern.

With those figures I think someone voted twice!

Glaucus · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:54

Yep, that was a bit of fail.

Spook187 · 27 Jul 2011 at 13:57

AcidHell2 said:
I don't understand why people are so against it.
I don't think it's the right direction but it's not a bad thing.

We should be opening up more local stations, looking at double decker trains, and compulsory buying land back, to install qaud tracks. Less about speed and more about larger cheaper capacity inter city and far far more stops on shuttle service.

A lot of stations are getting extended platforms to cope with the extra carriages but this will only buy a few years before we are up to capacity again,i have been working on lines that were once double lines then taken down to a single line and now they are putting it back to a double once more :confused:

crazy..

shine · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:00

Morbius said:
We could use more east to west lines that don't go through London. That would be more beneficial.

AcidHell2 said:
I don't understand why people are so against it.
I don't think it's the right direction but it's not a bad thing.

We should be opening up more local stations, looking at double decker trains, and compulsory buying land back, to install qaud tracks. Less about speed and more about larger cheaper capacity inter city and far far more stops on shuttle service.

I agree with the above - we need more capacity, reduced journey times would be a bonus but reliable travel at a reasonable costs during peak hours has to be a priority.

Sunbed · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:08

shine said:
I agree with the above - we need more capacity, reduced journey times would be a bonus but reliable travel at a reasonable costs during peak hours has to be a priority.

More capacity: Yes

Reduced journey times: The journey times from HS2 aren't much quicker than they are now. We don't see the benefit that France and Spain get due to the size of our country.

Reasonable cost: LOL think again. HS2 will be reserved (due to the price) for posh business types and the "common man" won't see advantages for ages. Low cost airlines will still be cheaper for travel into northern Europe.

This is my opinion, as a civil engineer (I should be supporting it!).

Having said that, by the time the planning/tendering is sorted my mind will have probably changed because it'll be getting on for 2017 by then.

platypus · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:10

Given the ridiculous cost of the system, I can't see how it benefits us enough to justify the spending.

Pudney · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:12

Sundance said:
Reasonable cost: LOL think again. HS2 will be reserved (due to the price) for posh business types and the "common man" won't see advantages for ages. Low cost airlines will still be cheaper for travel into northern Europe.

Isn't HS2 going from London to Scotland?

LordSplodge · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:12

OldCoals said:
How may objections are purely NIMBY?

It's bloody NIMBYs again! The line happens to go near a few posh peoples back gardens so they're all up in arms. The Victorians wouldn't have put up with this. Actually they'd have built the line by now...

AcidHell2 said:
...looking at double decker trains...

Can't do it. Loading restrictions on our lines are two tight. Unless you fancy taking down every old bridge and tunnel?

The rest is possible but it is run by profit making companies and they don't care for long term investment.

Glaucus · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:14

It is possible it just requires huge projects, just like hs2.

Might be run by a non profit making company, but it's still dictated to by government.
We should be looking at what we need 50-100 years down the line and start upgrading route by route. With any new route/expansion being pencilled in and all planning permission for such areas, to be turned down.

LordSplodge · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:17

AcidHell2 said:
It is possible it just requires huge projects, just like hs2.
.

Changing the loading gauge is a much, much bigger project than building a new line.

Probably needs doping but I dread to think of what damage it would do to some of the old (and probably in need of listing) bridges and tunnels on our lines.

Sunbed · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:18

Pudney said:
Isn't HS2 going from London to Scotland?

Possibly eventually, but the plan now is to go

London > Birmingham > Manchester

With an optional "fork" to Leeds, possibly through Sheffield.

Some good reading:
http://www.campaignforhsr.com/institute-of-civil-engineers-declares-their-official-support-for-hsr

Urgh I keep changing my mind on this. Right now, I can't see the business case, but it won't start for another 5/6 years, so by then I'll probably be thinking... shouldn't we have this already?! So fickle

Spook187 · 27 Jul 2011 at 14:22

LordSplodge said:
Changing the loading gauge is a much, much bigger project than building a new line.

Probably needs doping but I dread to think of what damage it would do to some of the old (and probably in need of listing) bridges and tunnels on our lines.

yep your right,we actually lowered some track on small bridges to get the tilting trains to go through them and the cost was huge..