why all the hate for hs2?

Orionaut said:
HS2 will be of little benefit to "The North" All it will do is allow a relatively small number of wealthy London professionals, who will be able to afford the silly season ticket prices, to move to the midlands, commute into London, and price all the local people out of the property market. very few people "In the North" want HS2. What they would like is improved local services. Not ones that will only benefit the top 1% of earners to the detriment of everybody else. :/
Click to expand...

Yeah basically. They say to benefit the UK but its to benefit London and London only. Otherwise they would have started building HS2 from the north, not from London.

The plan was HS2 would take 1hr and 10mins to get from Birmingham to London. It currently takes 1hr and 23mins.....so that extra 13mins saving is worth wasting money on another train system!?!?! When it would be cheaper to upgrade the current train line to achieve the same journey time.:confused:
 
You can quote me in several years but this is going to be a waste of money and underused. I commute from Manchester to London from time to time for work and reducing that commute by 30-50 minutes will make no difference to me. The trains are never full and there’s usually 1-2 entire first class carriages completely empty at peak times. The line runs well but struggles getting into Euston and out of Manchester Piccadilly / through Stockport. We don’t need another line we need to upgrade existing stations and trains. WiFi and mobile signal on the Virgin trains are a complete joke so I often end up not working on the train anyway.
 
If the final price tag is in excess of £100 billion then I'm going to be seriously ****** off if we don't end up with MagLev trains powered by their own miniature fusion reactors and utilising ambient temperature superconductors.
 
The businesses need to get the mentality that we can work remotely. Many of us have proven time and again we run more efficiently from home than in the office.
That's the problem. If the government truly wants to cut traffic, reduce emissions (especially NOX) an great better environment should be better put that money on schemes to force (yes force) office desk jobs to be done remotely. Many of us, work much better from home and our lives are generally better not having to waste 500+ hours commuting by car every year. (21 days)

HS2 is a white elephant. Is too expensive and slow compared to other similar "high speed" train projects across the world.
 
Trains are gash in this country, they only worked properly when we had the Victorians. Tarmac the lot over and build a new road system for electric / automated vehicles.
 
Malevolence said:
If the final price tag is in excess of £100 billion then I'm going to be seriously ****** off if we don't end up with MagLev trains powered by their own miniature fusion reactors and utilising ambient temperature superconductors.
Click to expand...


I would rather see the cash spent on a British manned Mars mission. Not only would it be more impressive, it would probably be cheaper!
 
A few more predictions....
  • It will run at a lower speed than originally advertised
  • Other services will be made to run slightly slower to make HS2 look faster
  • It will be £120-150bn total cost
  • Significantly delayed but this is an easy one
  • Parts of the line scaled back - again this is already been predicted
  • I believe they claimed ticket prices won't be sold at a premium - sure!
  • One or some of the delays will come right at the last moment and completely 'out of the blue' - like Crossrail 2
  • There will be multiple additional reviews and inquiries
  • Lawyers and consultants will be the real winners
  • It will become too big to fail (it we're not already there)
 
doodah said:
A few more predictions....
  • It will run at a lower speed than originally advertised
  • Other services will be made to run slightly slower to make HS2 look faster
  • It will be £120-150bn total cost
  • Significantly delayed but this is an easy one
  • Parts of the line scaled back - again this is already been predicted
  • I believe they claimed ticket prices won't be sold at a premium - sure!
  • One or some of the delays will come right at the last moment and completely 'out of the blue' - like Crossrail 2
  • There will be multiple additional reviews and inquiries
  • Lawyers and consultants will be the real winners
  • It will become too big to fail (it we're not already there)
Click to expand...

Add - Ridiculously priced tickets
 
It’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Hardly anyone has ever wanted to get to Birmingham quickly and HS2 doesn’t even offer a 20% reduction in travel time. Money would be much better spent on new East - West road/rail links or just plain fixing the road/rail system the U.K. does have.
 
Panos said:
The businesses need to get the mentality that we can work remotely. Many of us have proven time and again we run more efficiently from home than in the office.
That's the problem. If the government truly wants to cut traffic, reduce emissions (especially NOX) an great better environment should be better put that money on schemes to force (yes force) office desk jobs to be done remotely. Many of us, work much better from home and our lives are generally better not having to waste 500+ hours commuting by car every year. (21 days)

HS2 is a white elephant. Is too expensive and slow compared to other similar "high speed" train projects across the world.
Click to expand...

Good idea but that would never happen, as the UK has a problem with work/life balance.

Many businesses can easily move to work from home but dont want to because they want to micro manage their staff and see everything what they are doing.
 
Terminal_Boy said:
. . . Hardly anyone has ever wanted to get to Birmingham quickly . . .
Click to expand...
Certainly not from France ;)

As a matter of interest, I seem to recall that Birmingham were planning to limit cars in the city centre - which seems like a good idea . . . IF they also introduce decent, reliable, cheap public transport :)
 
malachi said:
Good idea but that would never happen, as the UK has a problem with work/life balance.

Many businesses can easily move to work from home but dont want to because they want to micro manage their staff and see everything what they are doing.
Click to expand...

Companies can easily put monitoring software on your computer and if they micro manage at the office then they'll do it at home with breaks away from the computer being examined. Extreme I know but possible.

Tbh I could see work / life balance potentially being worse in some jobs working from home, the commuting time saved could end up being spent working anyway, its far harder to detach yourself and turn off at the end of the day and you lose the social side of the workplace. Depends on the person obviously but working from home really isn't for everyone and can make people feel pretty isolated doing it full time. Perhaps a split of days in and out of the office combined with more flexible start and finish times would help reduce commuter congestion at peak hours.
 
The estimated cost of building 119 miles of bullet train track in the Central Valley has jumped to $10.6 billion
Click to expand...
hs2 is only 330miles? at 100bn +?

couldnt we have built a bullet train from london to edinburgh for cheaper than hs2

malachi said:
The plan was HS2 would take 1hr and 10mins to get from Birmingham to London. It currently takes 1hr and 23mins.....so that extra 13mins saving is worth wasting money on another train system!?!?! When it would be cheaper to upgrade the current train line to achieve the same journey time.:confused:
Click to expand...

but the hs2 will take pressure from the main line and it could end up being faster to not use hs2 :confused::D:confused:
 
arknor said:
hs2 is only 330miles? at 100bn +?

couldnt we have built a bullet train from london to edinburgh for cheaper than hs2
Click to expand...
China could, because they excel at getting *** done.

We dance around the NIMBYS and spend years consulting and trying to get locals on side, going through revision after revision, inquiry after inquiry. So inefficient.

Ultimately China understands that moving a bunch of people against their will is a price worth paying for major infrastructure projects that will benefit the whole nation; the locals will find somewhere else to live - sure they'll grumble but not for very long.

That's not to say HS2 is a good idea, just that we're crap at making this soft of thing happen even after deciding we want to do it. Coz you have to listen to every Jack, Jane and Dee with an opinion (and a lawyer).
 
FoxEye said:
China could, because they excel at getting *** done.

We dance around the NIMBYS and spend years consulting and trying to get locals on side, going through revision after revision, inquiry after inquiry. So inefficient.

Ultimately China understands that moving a bunch of people against their will is a price worth paying for major infrastructure projects that will benefit the whole nation; the locals will find somewhere else to live - sure they'll grumble but not for very long.

That's not to say HS2 is a good idea, just that we're crap at making this soft of thing happen even after deciding we want to do it. Coz you have to listen to every Jack, Jane and Dee with an opinion (and a lawyer).
Click to expand...
Close but what you mean is we have to listen to every Tory donor or constituent with an opinion the working class can do one an we will flatten there homes!
 
arknor said:
hs2 is only 330miles? at 100bn +?

couldnt we have built a bullet train from london to edinburgh for cheaper than hs2



but the hs2 will take pressure from the main line and it could end up being faster to not use hs2 :confused::D:confused:
Click to expand...

We should bring in the Japanese. They know a thing or two about high speed trains, but more importantly managing the lines, and ensuring trains are on time. Give them the £100bn and tell them to go and build it.
 
Puzzled said:
Companies can easily put monitoring software on your computer and if they micro manage at the office then they'll do it at home with breaks away from the computer being examined. Extreme I know but possible.

Tbh I could see work / life balance potentially being worse in some jobs working from home, the commuting time saved could end up being spent working anyway, its far harder to detach yourself and turn off at the end of the day and you lose the social side of the workplace. Depends on the person obviously but working from home really isn't for everyone and can make people feel pretty isolated doing it full time. Perhaps a split of days in and out of the office combined with more flexible start and finish times would help reduce commuter congestion at peak hours.
Click to expand...

This. My other half has worked from home for the last 6 years. She loves not having to commute but it takes a certain mindset. She does find it really difficult to stop working though and many a time I have come home from my hours commute to find her still working. So her employer gains greatly from it.

Downside for her, apart from talking to people on the phone, she doesnt have much face to face work socialisation so you can feel lonely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom