Suppose HS2 was cancelled

[100SRV]

As the title really...
Is there a "penalty clause" the prime contractor could levy against the government for lost earnings?

Could reinstatement work be part of that, quite some mess to clear up...

Edited by 100SRV on Saturday 28th January 22:52

[dundarach]

Yes they'll pay something I bet.

No they'll not clear up.

Will it get cancelled, no, how would the pointless executives have pointless meetings.

[normalbloke]

No chance. Bridges have already been built, tunnel boring machines set off already etc etc.

[Wacky Racer]

No way it will be cancelled, work too far advanced.

[100SRV]

Living near the route I'm inclined to agree that it's too far gone to stop now. I suppose it's difficult to reduce the cost of it without making the whole system pointless.

[Chrisgr31]

Its apparently on budget. However government changing their mind at Euston means £105m spent on design is wasted. How you spend £105m on design is beyond me!

Of course if we decided what we were going t do and did it projects like this would be a lot cheaper and arrive a lot quicker. I understand one big issue with HS2 and its cost is the guarantees contractors have to give. Means its all titanium plated!

[Slackline]

Chrisgr31 said:

Its apparently on budget. However government changing their mind at Euston means £105m spent on design is wasted. How you spend £105m on design is beyond me!

Of course if we decided what we were going t do and did it projects like this would be a lot cheaper and arrive a lot quicker. I understand one big issue with HS2 and its cost is the guarantees contractors have to give. Means its all titanium plated!

Staying on budget with a £5.5bn contingency shouldn't be that hard, although I think they have used something like 25% of that already though.

You would have to assume that the goal is to use 99.9% of the contingency. That way everyone is happy - Government get to claim 'under budget' and everyone else has a nice Christmas.

[NorthDave]

I live in Manchester and work a lot in London - I wish they would scrap it.
The West coast main line isn't even run properly so what hope has this of making a difference?
In my view they should give tax breaks to spread companies round the country a bit more and push fast internet everywhere so people can work from home. I don't get the fascination with everyone being in the office and the commuting just creates pollution and clogs the country up.

[anonymous-user]

NorthDave said:

I live in Manchester and work a lot in London - I wish they would scrap it.
The West coast main line isn't even run properly so what hope has this of making a difference?
In my view they should give tax breaks to spread companies round the country a bit more and push fast internet everywhere so people can work from home. I don't get the fascination with everyone being in the office and the commuting just creates pollution and clogs the country up.

I’m guessing you don’t own any business properties currently sat at low occupancy and not returning on your investment….

[DoctorX]

I wonder if the later phases will get kicked down the road. So, rather than taking the pressure off the entire network, this really will be just a faster way of getting to Birmingham.

[Dingu]

pablo said:

I’m guessing you don’t own any business properties currently sat at low occupancy and not returning on your investment….

They’ll have to change the use then.

[Chrisgr31]

DoctorX said:

I wonder if the later phases will get kicked down the road. So, rather than taking the pressure off the entire network, this really will be just a faster way of getting to Birmingham.

That’s almost what they have done already!

[Waitforme]

With the state of the economy it was one of the first things that came to mind as to how money could be saved rather than spending billions on a new railway.
But , as has been said , maybe too far advanced

[croyde]

They could turn it into a great cycle/walkway like they do to those old railway lines in Surrey and other countryside areas

[Bonefish Blues]

pablo said:

NorthDave said:

I live in Manchester and work a lot in London - I wish they would scrap it.
The West coast main line isn't even run properly so what hope has this of making a difference?
In my view they should give tax breaks to spread companies round the country a bit more and push fast internet everywhere so people can work from home. I don't get the fascination with everyone being in the office and the commuting just creates pollution and clogs the country up.

I’m guessing you don’t own any business properties currently sat at low occupancy and not returning on your investment….

A couple of comments:

A colleague told me last week that her Mcr - London train takes only 2hr 5mins - I thought it was way longer than that. Made me wonder about the fundamental business case.

Workers are certainly returning to the office in big numbers Tues-Thurs. Seems like the 3-day office week is becoming the new norm.

[bigpriest]

Bonefish Blues said:

pablo said:

NorthDave said:

I live in Manchester and work a lot in London - I wish they would scrap it.
The West coast main line isn't even run properly so what hope has this of making a difference?
In my view they should give tax breaks to spread companies round the country a bit more and push fast internet everywhere so people can work from home. I don't get the fascination with everyone being in the office and the commuting just creates pollution and clogs the country up.

I’m guessing you don’t own any business properties currently sat at low occupancy and not returning on your investment….

A couple of comments:

A colleague told me last week that her Mcr - London train takes only 2hr 5mins - I thought it was way longer than that. Made me wonder about the fundamental business case.

Workers are certainly returning to the office in big numbers Tues-Thurs. Seems like the 3-day office week is becoming the new norm.

It's usually around 2½ hours but to enble that to happen you have to keep the suburban commuter trains off the same route. HS2, in theory, frees up some capacity to have improved stopping and freight services. The media are fixated on HS2 being some attempt at a speed record between major cities.

[Chrisgr31]

NorthDave said:

I don't get the fascination with everyone being in the office and the commuting just creates pollution and clogs the country up.

If people are using electrified rail the pollution is much reduced and they aren’t clogging up the country.

Of course whether one needs to be in the office or not is very dependent on your job. In mine it’s handy being amongst colleagues to have an idea what deals they are. It’s almost essential for graduates and apprentices to be in earshot of qualified staff.

[droopsnoot]

bigpriest said:

The media are fixated on HS2 being some attempt at a speed record between major cities.

Indeed, I don't know where the issue has come from - whether it's just the media or whether the marketing emphasised it too much - but everyone seems fixated on the chance of saving 15 minutes off a journey from Birmingham to London when that's just a side-effect of having a new purpose-built line.

[aeropilot]

Chrisgr31 said:

Its apparently on budget. However government changing their mind at Euston means £105m spent on design is wasted. How you spend £105m on design is beyond me!

Well......... changing the Archtiect and Lead Engineer 5 years into the design phase didn't help........you can't do that and not incur significant costs, as the new consultants have to still re-design the design, redo calcs, documentations, BIM models, and drgs etc.,etc.

And now, deleting one platform from the design means a significant proportion of that design first started in way back 2012 (that 10 years ago) can now no longer be used, and so its start all over again.........

[Abdul Abulbul Amir]

droopsnoot said:

bigpriest said:

The media are fixated on HS2 being some attempt at a speed record between major cities.

Indeed, I don't know where the issue has come from - whether it's just the media or whether the marketing emphasised it too much - but everyone seems fixated on the chance of saving 15 minutes off a journey from Birmingham to London when that's just a side-effect of having a new purpose-built line.

I suspect it was the name.