HS2, whats the current status ?
Discussion
BlackLabel said:
HS2 bidder drops out of £170m design deal over cronyism allegations
There's no way the process for a £160m contact would have been done that quickly and it should have been that that CH2M had "won" the bid before the moves.telegraph said:
A controversial design contract for the £55bn High Speed 2 rail project has been abandoned by the US engineer which won the work following cronyism allegations.
In February American engineering consultancy CH2M Hill was awarded the £170m Phase 2B deal to design parts of the high speed line running from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds.
However a competitor, Mace, argued that the US business should not have got the deal because of what insiders claim was a “revolving door” for staff between CH2M and HS2 for senior positions.
Four months before the contract was awarded, CH2M executive Roy Hill was seconded to HS2 as interim chief executive when the rail project’s boss quit to join Rolls-Royce.
Then in January CH2M’s European boss Mark Thurston was appointed as the new chief executive of HS2, with the US firm handed the design contract a month later.
In February American engineering consultancy CH2M Hill was awarded the £170m Phase 2B deal to design parts of the high speed line running from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds.
However a competitor, Mace, argued that the US business should not have got the deal because of what insiders claim was a “revolving door” for staff between CH2M and HS2 for senior positions.
Four months before the contract was awarded, CH2M executive Roy Hill was seconded to HS2 as interim chief executive when the rail project’s boss quit to join Rolls-Royce.
Then in January CH2M’s European boss Mark Thurston was appointed as the new chief executive of HS2, with the US firm handed the design contract a month later.
And in any case the chief exec would have had no involvement in the tender process anyway.
Just stalling tactics.
robinessex said:
steveT350C said:
A glimmer of hope...
http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/795210/Prim...
How will that effect house prices and the weather?http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/795210/Prim...
Scrapping HS2 would be an excellent move, helping to protect the northern economy from being sucked dry by the southeast. Maybe it's a poke in Gideon's eye - his Northern Powerhouse and all that !
gothatway said:
What about the price of bread ?
Scrapping HS2 would be an excellent move, helping to protect the northern economy from being sucked dry by the southeast. Maybe it's a poke in Gideon's eye - his Northern Powerhouse and all that !
I hope it is scrapped but if she does, Labour will spin it that she is only doing it because of all the tory areas that it is going through and it will punish Birmingham which has a large Labour base.Scrapping HS2 would be an excellent move, helping to protect the northern economy from being sucked dry by the southeast. Maybe it's a poke in Gideon's eye - his Northern Powerhouse and all that !
It was a white elephant from day one and I have yet to see anything to suggest otherwise.
More money needed.
“Ministers must spend an extra £43 billion to make the construction of High Speed 2 worthwhile, the Government’s infrastructure tsar suggests today.
Sir John Armitt, the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, says the sum, which would double the amount attributed to the high speed line five years ago, is needed to “make the most” of the railway line.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/08/04/hs...
“Ministers must spend an extra £43 billion to make the construction of High Speed 2 worthwhile, the Government’s infrastructure tsar suggests today.
Sir John Armitt, the chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, says the sum, which would double the amount attributed to the high speed line five years ago, is needed to “make the most” of the railway line.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/08/04/hs...
FourWheelDrift said:
It's a complete money pit farce. Much like all political power projects.
I still don't know who would actually want to get from London to Birmingham quickly. Are they moving government civil service departments there?
I read an article in RAIL magazine which suggested the main benefits will come from freeing up the track space on the existing network as the high speed north south trains take up a lot of reserved space due to their speed. Slower local trains need less space. So moving all high speed trains to HS2 will help local trains.I still don't know who would actually want to get from London to Birmingham quickly. Are they moving government civil service departments there?
My only issue with this is that the east coast main line will not benefit as HS2 won't be going to Peterborough, York, Newcastle or Edinburgh. So east coast rail won't see any improvement at all and that includes local services below Peterborough so all the commuter lines.
So in effect the main beneficiaries will be those on the west coast.
FourWheelDrift said:
It's a complete money pit farce. Much like all political power projects.
I still don't know who would actually want to get from London to Birmingham quickly. Are they moving government civil service departments there?
Good job that wasn't the thinking over a 10p years ago when they built the present railways. I still don't know who would actually want to get from London to Birmingham quickly. Are they moving government civil service departments there?
or we may be even more fooked now. seveb said:
I read an article in RAIL magazine which suggested the main benefits will come from freeing up the track space on the existing network as the high speed north south trains take up a lot of reserved space due to their speed. Slower local trains need less space. So moving all high speed trains to HS2 will help local trains.
My only issue with this is that the east coast main line will not benefit as HS2 won't be going to Peterborough, York, Newcastle or Edinburgh. So east coast rail won't see any improvement at all and that includes local services below Peterborough so all the commuter lines.
So in effect the main beneficiaries will be those on the west coast.
Don't be bringing facts and common sense in, people don't like it if it doesn't fit their agenda My only issue with this is that the east coast main line will not benefit as HS2 won't be going to Peterborough, York, Newcastle or Edinburgh. So east coast rail won't see any improvement at all and that includes local services below Peterborough so all the commuter lines.
So in effect the main beneficiaries will be those on the west coast.
rover 623gsi said:
one side is going up to Manchester and the other side is going up to Leeds so presumably there will be some benefit to eastern rail users too
I thought all routes went west first, so for example, if you live in Peterborough or Stevenage you'd have to go south to KX then cross London to Euston then up to Leeds via Birmingham ?seveb said:
rover 623gsi said:
one side is going up to Manchester and the other side is going up to Leeds so presumably there will be some benefit to eastern rail users too
I thought all routes went west first, so for example, if you live in Peterborough or Stevenage you'd have to go south to KX then cross London to Euston then up to Leeds via Birmingham ?Sheepshanks said:
V8 Fettler said:
£100 billion would build a lot of roads.
Need to keep some back to build the electricity infrastructure to supply all the charging points we're going to need.Isn't Network Rail the UKs single biggest user of electricity about 20% I thought I heard? I'll be loving the day when I come home and park my Priusotoris and find a bloody Virgin Pendelinodedildo using my flats high output charging point.
abzmike said:
It’s hard to think of any agenda that can find good value in spending £99B on this thing.
+1Surely this is a cost and benefit thing. I mean even the most staunch advocate of the scheme must feel uneasy as the figures shoot up?
This is what we were told in 2012.
The idea that the proposed HS2 high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham, and eventually beyond to Manchester and Leeds, would bring vast economic benefits for the UK lies behind the government's intention to invest some £32.7bn in the project. The government insists the HS2 project will bring between £41.4bn to £46.9bn of economic benefits over a period of six decades, ranging from income from ticket sales to reduced congestion on the roads and the creation of hundreds of jobs.
seveb said:
I thought all routes went west first, so for example, if you live in Peterborough or Stevenage you'd have to go south to KX then cross London to Euston then up to Leeds via Birmingham ?
Indeed - current plan shows the line going from Euston up to Birmingham and it will split to the east of Sutton Coldfield, with the Leeds branch heading for Nottingham first.https://www.hs2.org.uk/where/route-map/#9/52.6563/...
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