why all the hate for hs2?

[Hagar]

When it was planned most people worked five days a week in the office. People, and I was one travelled to clients offices in London for meetings.
No more. The intended capacity increase could be obtained otherwise. A huge amount of money has been invested which will not be recovered but that is what governments routinely do. I was involved in some of the work for HS2 before I retired which was nearly six years ago. So quite a lot of work will be nearing completion in some areas.

Added to which we still have railways having to cope with outdated practices in deference to ASLEF and RMT.

 

[explicit4u]

Would not be surprised if the new Euston development group decides to redesign the station with much less platform space too, which would be another way of limiting the future usefulness of the London-Birmingham section, and ensuring the investment so far is wasted.

Yep, I remember a friend of mine suggesting that the Euston station construction was just a convenient excuse to clear some lucrative land for development and it looks like thats what they're planning on doing.

Original design had circa 11 platforms, now it's being wittled down to 6, with the surrounding land being used for development.

It would be a lot easier to stomach reducing the scope of HS2, if they were still building passive provision for future expansion.

 

[Liefrich]

I appreciated Spiked is not everyones cup of tea but this article if a fair representation it highlights some of our cultural issues that make these projects impossible.

The HS2 flop reveals Britain’s crisis of ambition

We are incapable of building anything other than diversity, equity and inclusion teams.

www.spiked-online.com

Someone somewhere lost track that we were building a trainline not a bureaucratic empire. It has been a problem of the British since the Second World War that we're generally only good in a crisis and the rest of the time we **** about with the trivial.

I don't like Spiked but that article is decent. Do we have a source for those figures about the DEI managers being paid £200k a pop? I've had a look, but her link goes to the Sun website which doesn't really provide them...

 

[Werewolf]

Yep, I remember a friend of mine suggesting that the Euston station construction was just a convenient excuse to clear some lucrative land for development and it looks like thats what they're planning on doing.

Original design had circa 11 platforms, now it's being wittled down to 6, with the surrounding land being used for development.

It would be a lot easier to stomach reducing the scope of HS2, if they were still building passive provision for future expansion.

Very deliberate sabotage for any future plans.

 

[oggiet]

I posted..



You posted..

You are making stuff up now

 

[Goodie]

You are making stuff up now

you mustn’t be familiar with n111ck, it’s his trademark. That and,

Lol..

 

[n111ck]

You are making stuff up now

I literally quoted the relevant posts are u mad lol..

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

Amazing that this is coming out so quickly after the announcement - just one of the many ways that the cancellation will make it difficult for any future government to complete HS2:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1709544532935598264

Would not be surprised if the new Euston development group decides to redesign the station with much less platform space too, which would be another way of limiting the future usefulness of the London-Birmingham section, and ensuring the investment so far is wasted.

They are selling it for a profit or at least at cost price. Right. Right. Right...

 

[Mesai]

Amazing that this is coming out so quickly after the announcement - just one of the many ways that the cancellation will make it difficult for any future government to complete HS2:

This has come up several times when discussing the cost and general inefficiency at which we rollout rail projects (compared with other countries).

Half the battle is setting up the supply chain, etc. to enable build. Stopping and starting ruins momentum and prevents us from getting better deals and amortising the setup/base costs more efficiently.

 

[Felon]

The billion to local councils to improve roads has from memory been announced pretty much every time the government have been asked about what they're doing about pot holes, and as it's over 10 years it's not even a fraction of what is needed even if it was new every time.

Going by how the government spends money, that should just about cover the costs of fixing 100 pot holes per year.

 

[doodah]

Not one word. They make it up as they go.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1709908649177461048

 

[Felon]

I'm just lost for words over the whole thing.

£403Million per mile, it's the most expensive railway ever built?

I mean, it's just a joke, I hope it goes to 404 million.. that would be funny.

 

[doodah]

And another.....

https://twitter.com/x/status/1709937815256248787

 

[FoxEye]

..Aaaand it's back to Old Oak Common (again), unless the private sector picks up the bill to go to Euston.

What a joke this government is.

 

[Minusorange]

They are selling it for a profit or at least at cost price. Right. Right. Right...

More like to their mates at mates rates

 

[jpaul]

I thought Rishi's music video was good - maybe he shapps/ govee can form a boys band, Bhangra style, another first.

 

[doodah]

If we elect clowns, we get a circus of ***. The defender's silence continues.....

https://twitter.com/x/status/1710202010878799991

 

[Azza]

A level of competence that can't be matched.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1710217277918867923

 

[FTM]

I cant believe they were still purchasing land up to last week.....if they were thinking about shelving the project surely you would have put a hold on purchases

what a colossal waste of money

 

[Scam]

..Aaaand it's back to Old Oak Common (again), unless the private sector picks up the bill to go to Euston.

I get the Elizabeth line from west of Paddington and it's an absolute running joke with most commuters. Trains don't stop at all stations (including mine) even before the line splits, meaning a wait of up to 18mins for a train even if you live in zone 2/3. The Heathrow trains are absolutely rammed because of this, and don't even get me started on the delays and suspensions on the line. It's news when the line is actually working on a weekday. So yeah, certainly going to work well when all of the HS2 passengers start piling on at Old Oak Common trying to get into town, or vice versa.

At least I might be retired by the time that happens