HS2, whats the current status ?

[CoolHands]

I still think they should go for it. And as someone above mentioned, expand it. Make something in this country great! We’d never have the current railways if it was proposed in this day and age cos I’m sure it was over cost and cut through people’s land etc too.

Go big or go home!

[Lily the Pink]

TameRacingDriver said:

I still think its a massive waste of money and it should be scrapped. The massive amounts spent could make the existing system reasonably good I would have thought, and not just benefit those in the South-east (as per usual).

Bold added. All that HS2 could achieve would be to suck resources from the midlands/north down to London. I'd prefer to see more investment in the regions, so invest in links from the southwest to the midlands and the north.

[Lily the Pink]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

How much of London-Birmingham-Crewe is currently 4-track (or more) ? How much of Cross-country likewise ?

[Downward]

Exactly some trains in and out of Brum at rush hour are just 2 or 3 carriages.
So what do they do ? Build more Offices in Brum so the trains get busier and busier.


An old report but it’s the same but a heck of a lot busier today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2...


http://trainsfromhell.co.uk/2016/08/04/overcrowdin...

Edited by Downward on Thursday 11th July 20:18

[Ian Geary]

You obviously know your stuff train-wise.

What do you think the best solution would be to join things up?

anonymous said:

[redacted]

[rover 623gsi]

TameRacingDriver said:

I was just thinking about this before... I am obviously completely against HS2 as a geordie, given that we will not see it up here in my lifetime, if ever, so naturally I'm quite biased against it. If anything the north of england needs the jobs more than Birmingham, UK's second city.

That being said, I just decided to google how long it takes to get from Birmingham to London on the train, bearing in mind they're almost neighbours 2 hours 1 minute average How can it take THAT long when it only takes 2 hours 50 from Newcastle?! It's way less than half the distance from Newcastle to London yet apparently on average takes just 50 minutes less. Mental!

I still think its a massive waste of money and it should be scrapped. The massive amounts spent could make the existing system reasonably good I would have thought, and not just benefit those in the South (as per usual).

HS2 Services in the North East

Newcastle to:

East Midlands Hub, HS2 time 96 minutes
Birmingham, HS2 time 118 minutes, current time 172 minutes
London, HS2 time 137 minutes, current time 170 minutes

Durham to:

East Midlands Hub, HS2 time 82 minutes
Birmingham, HS2 time 103 minutes, current time 159 minutes
London, HS2 time 138 minutes, current time 170 minutes

Darlington to:

East Midlands Hub, HS2 time63 minutes
Birmingham, HS2 time 85 minutes, current time 140 minutes
London, HS2 time 112 minutes, current time 141 minutes

https://www.hs2.org.uk/stations/newcastle/

[jamoor]

I'm more concerned about Railways becoming a dated form of transport by the time this is completed.

Think autonomous vehicles.

[Sheepshanks]

jamoor said:

I'm more concerned about Railways becoming a dated form of transport by the time this is completed.

Think autonomous vehicles.

People are beginning to realise fully autonomous vehicles are a very long way away. I suppose you could be right though - HS2 completion might have the same time-frame!

[TameRacingDriver]

rover 623gsi said:

HS2 Services in the North East

Newcastle to:

East Midlands Hub, HS2 time 96 minutes
Birmingham, HS2 time 118 minutes, current time 172 minutes
London, HS2 time 137 minutes, current time 170 minutes

Durham to:

East Midlands Hub, HS2 time 82 minutes
Birmingham, HS2 time 103 minutes, current time 159 minutes
London, HS2 time 138 minutes, current time 170 minutes

Darlington to:

East Midlands Hub, HS2 time63 minutes
Birmingham, HS2 time 85 minutes, current time 140 minutes
London, HS2 time 112 minutes, current time 141 minutes

https://www.hs2.org.uk/stations/newcastle/

Interesting. So why has everything I’ve read has seen the line stop at Leeds?

[rover 623gsi]

the line does stop at Leeds, but the trains don't

HS2 have done a very bad job of letting people know that there will be two types of trains. Those that only run on HS2 tracks and those that will run on HS2 and classic track. The Newcastle - Birmingham journey will be much faster now because the train will run along the same line as now down to Leeds then join the HS2 track and speed down to Birmingham. The same thing will happen on the eastern leg with, for example, trains from Carlisle joining the HS2 track at Manchester.

[Amateurish]

jamoor said:

I'm more concerned about Railways becoming a dated form of transport by the time this is completed.

Think autonomous vehicles.

Quite the opposite. Train use increases year on year, every year.

[jamoor]

Amateurish said:

Quite the opposite. Train use increases year on year, every year.

But what if the alternatives are better?

[powerstroke]

jamoor said:

I'm more concerned about Railways becoming a dated form of transport by the time this is completed.

Think autonomous vehicles.

Nah !! HS2 is the future the fad of doing things on line and working remotely will fade as will the internet ,
people will soon be back to wanting to get up at 5.oo am and travel to some open plan office in central London
sit at a computer and then travel back home for 8.oo pm ...

[robinessex]

The firm with 900 staff and no office

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48879976

There's a growing trend for firms to ditch their offices entirely, but is that good or bad for workers?
"Talent is evenly distributed but opportunity is often not," says Cate Huston. "Working this way means you can access that talent and also give opportunity."
She leads the developer experience team for Automattic, a large multi-national company where every single one of the 930 staff work remotely. The business has no fixed office presence at all.
"It's a deep part of our culture, nobody even mentions offices anymore," she told BBC 5 live's Wake Up To Money programme.
"I'm office-free. We all just love the freedom and we travel to meet each other so we enjoy those adventures as well.".......continues

As technology improves, I think this will snowball. Why do so many nowadays commute to work, just to send emails to each other? By the time HS2 is finished (if it is actually ever finished), it won't be needed. Incidentally, to get maximum passenger density on the HS2 proposed route, the optimum speed is 40mph!!

[robinessex]

Tonker, you seem to have some dam good 'inside' knowledge of the rail industry. I'm sure Private Eye rail transport reporter, Dr. B Ching would love to communicate with you.

[wiggy001]

powerstroke said:

jamoor said:

I'm more concerned about Railways becoming a dated form of transport by the time this is completed.

Think autonomous vehicles.

Nah !! HS2 is the future the fad of doing things on line and working remotely will fade as will the internet ,
people will soon be back to wanting to get up at 5.oo am and travel to some open plan office in central London
sit at a computer and then travel back home for 8.oo pm ...

It's exactly this. By the time this is operational we will have millenials as managers of departments and running companies, and whole generation more environmentally and socially aware than previous generations. Surely this generation are far more likely to shun the traditional 9-to-5 for remote working, virtual teams etc?

As much as we need improvements in infrastructure in this country I can't help but think that £100bn could be spent far more wisely. Transport outside of the southeast and improved broadband/mobile connectivity would return far more bang for buck in my mind.

[Amateurish]

jamoor said:

Amateurish said:

Quite the opposite. Train use increases year on year, every year.

But what if the alternatives are better?

If they were better, people would use them instead of the train. Train use has doubled in the past 20 years.

[TameRacingDriver]

rover 623gsi said:

the line does stop at Leeds, but the trains don't

HS2 have done a very bad job of letting people know that there will be two types of trains. Those that only run on HS2 tracks and those that will run on HS2 and classic track. The Newcastle - Birmingham journey will be much faster now because the train will run along the same line as now down to Leeds then join the HS2 track and speed down to Birmingham. The same thing will happen on the eastern leg with, for example, trains from Carlisle joining the HS2 track at Manchester.

Still a raw deal for anyone north of Leeds - if they did the whole system it would be even quicker. It's costing an arm and a leg anyway, why not just do the whole country? Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen etc are all pretty major urban areas. However, we all know the answer to that and that is that the Southern based government doesn't think anyone north of Leeds actually matters.

robinessex said:

The firm with 900 staff and no office
As technology improves, I think this will snowball. Why do so many nowadays commute to work, just to send emails to each other? By the time HS2 is finished (if it is actually ever finished), it won't be needed. Incidentally, to get maximum passenger density on the HS2 proposed route, the optimum speed is 40mph!!

I've often wondered why people still travel all over the globe for work when they can use video conferencing, skype etc. Although I suspect its because executives like going travelling and a lot of it is nothing to do with work

[Catweazle]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

What makes it worse is that the colleague who should have been present was the brother of the man who was killed.

[Earthdweller]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Fascinating stuff Tonker

It’s what ph is about