HS2, whats the current status ?

[abzmike]

Rovinghawk said:

Again- it's not all about the journey time, it's about freeing up capacity for slower stuff.

Then sensibly expand capacity around existing lines, rather than spending £100B on creating the worlds most expensive high speed, super engineered lines. Most people agree more railways are a good idea, just not like this.

[Rovinghawk]

May I ask what rail construction experience you guys have?

[spaximus]

Rovinghawk said:

May I ask what rail construction experience you guys have?

Probably no more than you. By the same token those in Government probably have no more than us but are willing to fund it regardless of expertise.

[WatchfulEye]

abzmike said:

Then sensibly expand capacity around existing lines, rather than spending £100B on creating the worlds most expensive high speed, super engineered lines. Most people agree more railways are a good idea, just not like this.

My understanding is that this was extensively studied back in the 2000s, and considered to be infeasible. Expanding capacity on or near existing lines would be at least as expensive as building a completely new line, while taking longer, causing more disruption and adding less capacity. This is due to the large amount of development in vicinity to existing lines, which would require much more compulsory purchase, and considerably more disruption during construction, as well as direct impacts due to enabling works on the existing lines.

Now, that was at a time, when the HS2 budget was supposed to be in the region of £34 bn. Whether the costs of these disruptive upgrades would have increased inline with the dramatic escalation of the HS2 cost is anyone's guess.

[Sheepshanks]

Rovinghawk said:

May I ask what rail construction experience you guys have?

How hard can it be?

[voyds9]

Rovinghawk said:

May I ask what rail construction experience you guys have?

I play Railroad Tycoon on the PC

[powerstroke]

I'm sure all the service engineers ,couriers , haulage companies and others who will always need to get goods and services about
and are currently spending more and more time in gridlock can't wait for HS2 to be completed ,
I will be so useful to the kids of today when they grow up and won't have to bother with computers, iPads phones etc and working from home , yep they will get on a train with their briefcase and go to the office in London on HS2 every morning..
and it will be a cheep way to have a day out in London or manchester or birmingham depending on where you live ...

[spaximus]

powerstroke said:

I'm sure all the service engineers ,couriers , haulage companies and others who will always need to get goods and services about
and are currently spending more and more time in gridlock can't wait for HS2 to be completed ,
I will be so useful to the kids of today when they grow up and won't have to bother with computers, iPads phones etc and working from home , yep they will get on a train with their briefcase and go to the office in London on HS2 every morning..
and it will be a cheep way to have a day out in London or manchester or birmingham depending on where you live ...

Will they? We are being encouraged to do more and more video link working to avoid travel all together. Home working is on the increase and HS2 will only be useful for those on the route. How will it benefit the millions of tax payers who will be subsidizing those who live by a station or want to work in London.

Even the government has moved many functions out of London, NHS to Leeds, BBC to Salford etc so it can stop the madness of paying excessive rent and rates and a London wage expectation.

As I keep saying if it was such a great idea and money maker private companies would be all over it to fund it, they are not.

[anonymous-user]

voyds9 said:

I play Railroad Tycoon on the PC

What are the Nimbys like on there ???

[CoolHands]

Can I just ask

Is HS2 basically going ahead whatever discussions are had in the press etc? I ask cos I sort of thought it was still up in the air but as I noticed the following news item it shows they are actually working on it already? ergo it is happening (someone's getting paid for this)?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45971...

[robinessex]

CoolHands said:

Can I just ask

Is HS2 basically going ahead whatever discussions are had in the press etc? I ask cos I sort of thought it was still up in the air but as I noticed the following news item it shows they are actually working on it already? ergo it is happening (someone's getting paid for this)?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45971...

The Government made the decision ages ago, despite what's said in public. Large projects will always go ahead, the efforts to stop them will never succeed.

[Digga]

robinessex said:

CoolHands said:

Can I just ask

Is HS2 basically going ahead whatever discussions are had in the press etc? I ask cos I sort of thought it was still up in the air but as I noticed the following news item it shows they are actually working on it already? ergo it is happening (someone's getting paid for this)?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45971...

The Government made the decision ages ago, despite what's said in public. Large projects will always go ahead, the efforts to stop them will never succeed.

^This.

There's also a huge amount of 'enabling' work - the work that gives the teams access and bases from which to work the project itself - already underway.

[ralphrj]

Digga said:

robinessex said:

CoolHands said:

Can I just ask

Is HS2 basically going ahead whatever discussions are had in the press etc? I ask cos I sort of thought it was still up in the air but as I noticed the following news item it shows they are actually working on it already? ergo it is happening (someone's getting paid for this)?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-45971...

The Government made the decision ages ago, despite what's said in public. Large projects will always go ahead, the efforts to stop them will never succeed.

^This.

There's also a huge amount of 'enabling' work - the work that gives the teams access and bases from which to work the project itself - already underway.

Phase 1 (London to Birmingham) was approved by Parliament in 2016 (I think) and was given Royal Assent in February 2017.

The only bits still being debated are Phases 2a and 2b.

[BlackLabel]

“Sir Terry Morgan, the chairman of Crossrail and HS2, who last week predicted he would be sacked from both roles “within days” due to delays and cost overruns, has resigned.

The Department for Transport said Morgan, who became chairman of Crossrail in 2009 but had been in charge of HS2 for only four months, had stepped down from the senior posts.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/05/s...

[Digga]

There can surely be not better time to re-animate I.K. Brunel?

[Rovinghawk]

spaximus said:

Rovinghawk said:

May I ask what rail construction experience you guys have?

Probably no more than you.

I have rail & tram construction experience- I presume from your comment that you have none?

You might wish to acquire some before commenting further.

[robinessex]

Latest cost esitmate for this is approaching £100 Billion. Worth every penny of course.

Is the HS2 rail project in trouble?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46461606

All may not be rosy with the HS2 programme.
There have been ongoing questions raised about whether the project can be delivered on time and within budget.
And the recently-appointed HS2 chairman Sir Terry Morgan resigned from his post on Wednesday, after predicting that he would be asked to go by the Department for Transport....................continues

Edited by robinessex on Thursday 6th December 09:20

[Fittster]

Why the hate for HS2 and not for crossrail?

[anonymous-user]

Apropos of nothing, but I wonder how many miles of new high speed rail has been built and brought into operation in China since 11 March 2015, when this thread started?

[robinessex]

Fittster said:

Why the hate for HS2 and not for crossrail?

Cross rail seems sensible. HS2 is a vanity project by the government. All the suppsed revenue generation is comple bks