Suppose HS2 was cancelled
Discussion
Silver3ides said:
Drone footage ..HS2 Route Kenilworth to Burton Green - March 2023
https://youtu.be/OfHqKgewtYw
Wow, to be fair the service roads look pretty good https://youtu.be/OfHqKgewtYw
andy97 said:
There are loads of smaller Network rail projects.
Nuclear power.
Thames Tideway Tunnel.
The new lower Thames crossing.
Several defence projects
The Lower Thames crossing is also delayed!Nuclear power.
Thames Tideway Tunnel.
The new lower Thames crossing.
Several defence projects
https://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/23377058.lo...
On a brighter note for rail projects - the Luton Airport Dart is now open! Only 2 years late, and 30% over budget - for less than a mile and a half…. We really aren’t very good at these things.
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/luton-airports-dart...
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/luton-airports-dart...
Silver3ides said:
Drone footage ..HS2 Route Kenilworth to Burton Green - March 2023
https://youtu.be/OfHqKgewtYw
Yeah, lots of work been done. What it doesn't show is the amount of new roads and infrastructure been constructed in that area to get soil in and out where they're digging cuttings etc. The improvements for HS2 goes beyond just the train line. https://youtu.be/OfHqKgewtYw
Flying Phil said:
Sorry to read that Aeropilot.
Hope you get a new contract somewhere soon.
This start/ stop process on gov't jobs just raises the eventual price!! So frustrating....
I wasn't even working on HS2....!Hope you get a new contract somewhere soon.
This start/ stop process on gov't jobs just raises the eventual price!! So frustrating....
But they had so many that were, that now have no work, that I've been kicked out so they can give what I was working on to one of the now workfree permo staff.
Latest hs2 board meeting minutes have some heavy redaction:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/governmen...
Coupled with the 6 monthly report to parliament being late could there be an announcement coming?
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/governmen...
Coupled with the 6 monthly report to parliament being late could there be an announcement coming?
Edited by Essarell on Monday 29th May 00:56
abzmike said:
On a brighter note for rail projects - the Luton Airport Dart is now open! Only 2 years late, and 30% over budget - for less than a mile and a half…. We really aren’t very good at these things.
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/luton-airports-dart...
Only 30% bloat is pretty good for 2 years late, especially with inflation running as it is.https://news.sky.com/story/amp/luton-airports-dart...
I flew back into Heathrow from Germany on Friday. Due to the wind direction, we headed over NW London before landing from the West. From a cloudless sky, I looked out over the Chilterns and was appalled and embarrassed by this huge broad scar of construction work stretching as far as I could see towards Birmingham. It’s incredible that the project was ever given the go ahead in the first place. You might not be able to see the Great Wall of China from space, but I bet you can see this!
LotusOmega375D said:
I looked out over the Chilterns and was appalled and embarrassed by this huge broad scar of construction work stretching as far as I could see towards Birmingham. It’s incredible that the project was ever given the go ahead in the first place
Quite. The country was already bankrupt and the population density too high to make it remotely sensible. Now we are even more bankrupt and the population density even higher. The country would be moving better if the money had been spent on the roads, but that wasn't what Mrs Johnson wanted.LotusOmega375D said:
I flew back into Heathrow from Germany on Friday. Due to the wind direction, we headed over NW London before landing from the West. From a cloudless sky, I looked out over the Chilterns and was appalled and embarrassed by this huge broad scar of construction work stretching as far as I could see towards Birmingham. It’s incredible that the project was ever given the go ahead in the first place. You might not be able to see the Great Wall of China from space, but I bet you can see this!
Had you come in from the south east you would have seen HS1 which did similar damage but has now blended in with the landscape and takes up significantly less space than a motorway.How are we so utterly dire at any building projects in this country?
Every construction project seems to take over a decade and is way over budget
Where I live they've just opened a new train station (Reading Green Park). Announced in 2007 but stopped and resubmitted and changed, it has just opened after four years of building.
Four years... To add a two platformed station to an already used track.
Not to mention to 17 years it took from first announcing to opening
Every construction project seems to take over a decade and is way over budget
Where I live they've just opened a new train station (Reading Green Park). Announced in 2007 but stopped and resubmitted and changed, it has just opened after four years of building.
Four years... To add a two platformed station to an already used track.
Not to mention to 17 years it took from first announcing to opening
redrabbit29 said:
How are we so utterly dire at any building projects in this country?
Every construction project seems to take over a decade and is way over budget
Where I live they've just opened a new train station (Reading Green Park). Announced in 2007 but stopped and resubmitted and changed, it has just opened after four years of building.
Four years... To add a two platformed station to an already used track.
Not to mention to 17 years it took from first announcing to opening
And it's ugly. Every construction project seems to take over a decade and is way over budget
Where I live they've just opened a new train station (Reading Green Park). Announced in 2007 but stopped and resubmitted and changed, it has just opened after four years of building.
Four years... To add a two platformed station to an already used track.
Not to mention to 17 years it took from first announcing to opening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Q3JrdMdGs
LotusOmega375D said:
I flew back into Heathrow from Germany on Friday. Due to the wind direction, we headed over NW London before landing from the West. From a cloudless sky, I looked out over the Chilterns and was appalled and embarrassed by this huge broad scar of construction work stretching as far as I could see towards Birmingham. It’s incredible that the project was ever given the go ahead in the first place. You might not be able to see the Great Wall of China from space, but I bet you can see this!
If you took that attitude we would have no railways at all, no motorways, and certainly no airports for you to fly from! Ever seen how much space an airport takes up, or how wide the M1 is?For comparison, the M1 is about 35m wide, and the East Coast Main Line is 10m wide. Once it all goes green again you'll never notice it...
Facts are inconvenient when they collide with emotional nonsense. Maybe we should return the motorway network to green fields, as they are an "appalling and embarrassing broad scar stretching as far as the eye can see towards Birmingham"?
The problem is I live in the area, nobody needs it here, nobody wants it, it has just caused problems. Roads are filthy, traffic is insane in areas it should not be and all you see is waste.
I understand why the project was looked at initially, but the world was a very different place then, and now, the costs are insane, and the govt is ONLY carrying on because rightly;y the companies involved would have drawn up contracts with horrendous penalty clauses in them if it is cancelled, it already has in some areas and no doubt the govt are having to pay immense amounts for that.
I understand why the project was looked at initially, but the world was a very different place then, and now, the costs are insane, and the govt is ONLY carrying on because rightly;y the companies involved would have drawn up contracts with horrendous penalty clauses in them if it is cancelled, it already has in some areas and no doubt the govt are having to pay immense amounts for that.
LotusOmega375D said:
According to the Avanti West Coast website, their average journey time from Euston to Birmingham New Street is 1 hour 16 minutes. That’s not bad at all for about 115 miles. Why do we need to dig a whole new route? The vast majority of the UK population will never use it.
It's about increasing capacity on the existing lines for slow trains and freight by diverting the fast trains away. However, if the only section which gets built is the London to Birmingham bit, then it really is just a faster way of getting to Brum . Presumably the rest will get built one day, maybe.LotusOmega375D said:
According to the Avanti West Coast website, their average journey time from Euston to Birmingham New Street is 1 hour 16 minutes. That’s not bad at all for about 115 miles. Why do we need to dig a whole new route? The vast majority of the UK population will never use it.
You could say that about any large infrastructure project. The vast majority of the U.K. population don’t use the M74 or M8 so does that mean it shouldn’t have been built all those years ago? What about Heathrow’s second runway? Most won’t use it but does that mean it shouldn’t go ahead?
HS2 is about capacity, not speed. It frees up great swathes of the WCML, which is practically at capacity, as the intercity trains will be transferred to the HS2 line which are a massive pain in the arse when planning paths for these trains as they need long headways to maximise their speed and timings. Take them away and you have loads more paths for stoppers and freight meaning that intermediate stations will receive a much better service and more lorries off the roads.
It’s a bit of a scar at the moment as it is a building site. Once built it will blend in a lot better and will be no more of a visual impact than HS1 is and less than what the WCML is now.
Once spades are in the ground, things move along generally at pace. It’s the problems with planning, political interference and accommodating nimbyism before a shovel hits the ground that slows things down to a glacial pace.
redrabbit29 said:
How are we so utterly dire at any building projects in this country?
Every construction project seems to take over a decade and is way over budget
Where I live they've just opened a new train station (Reading Green Park). Announced in 2007 but stopped and resubmitted and changed, it has just opened after four years of building.
Four years... To add a two platformed station to an already used track.
Not to mention to 17 years it took from first announcing to opening
Adding a station to a railway line that's in use is massively more complicated than building a station on HS2 or whatever.Every construction project seems to take over a decade and is way over budget
Where I live they've just opened a new train station (Reading Green Park). Announced in 2007 but stopped and resubmitted and changed, it has just opened after four years of building.
Four years... To add a two platformed station to an already used track.
Not to mention to 17 years it took from first announcing to opening
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