HS2, whats the current status ?

[abzmike]

From BBC:

"The London to Birmingham stage was due to open at the end of 2026, but it could now be 2028-2031 before the first trains run on the route.

Mr Shapps said HS2's cost had risen from £62bn to between £81bn and £88bn.

The second phase to Manchester and Leeds was due to open in 2032-33, but that has been pushed back to 2035-2040."

Northern powerhouse eh? 20 years to build a railway?

[amgmcqueen]

£88Billion! Eighty eight fking billion for a stupid toy train!

Time to scrap this ridiculous white elephant for good. Just think what £88billion could do for things like social care, schools etc.

[rover 623gsi]

£88bn is about the same as the annual education budget

Whereas the money for hs2 is being spent over 30 years or so

[rover 623gsi]

Blue62 said:

Grant Shapps has just announced that the project will be 5 or 6 years late. No detail on exactly why it seems, just references to the overspend, so presumably it's to do with review.

The detail is here

[rover 623gsi]

Blue62 said:

Grant Shapps has just announced that the project will be 5 or 6 years late. No detail on exactly why it seems, just references to the overspend, so presumably it's to do with review.

The detail is here
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hs2-ltd...

[motco]

abzmike said:

From BBC:



Mr Shapps said HS2's cost had risen from £62bn to between £81bn and £88bn.

It started at £33bn IIRC

[abzmike]

motco said:

It started at £33bn IIRC

Yes, the goalposts have been rather wiggled around I think.

[Digga]

Like the rest of our rail network, better (a bit) late than never.

[robinessex]

I said it'll goto £100bn

[Murph7355]

robinessex said:

I said it'll goto £100bn

+++

Gone up 30% in this shout...another 10-15yrs to delivery...it'll go 120bn+ if allowed to continue.

[abzmike]

Again from the Beeb:

£32.7bn Original budget
£55.6bn Existing budget
£81bn to £88bn Expected cost
£7.4bn Already spent on the project

Makes the garden bridge look like a drop in a very large ocean

[J4CKO]

Blue62 said:

Grant Shapps has just announced that the project will be 5 or 6 years late. No detail on exactly why it seems, just references to the overspend, so presumably it's to do with review.

Part of me thinks he just preparing the ground for it getting binned altogether at the end of the month.

How do other countries do it ? huge networks of high speed rail ? is it due to us being a bit cramped in comparison to say France ?

[P5BNij]

Pretty much yes Jacko, for example, Euston to Glasgow is only 400 miles, Paddington to Penzance is just 325 (via Bristol).

[Robertj21a]

abzmike said:

Again from the Beeb:

£32.7bn Original budget
£55.6bn Existing budget
£81bn to £88bn Expected cost
£7.4bn Already spent on the project

Makes the garden bridge look like a drop in a very large ocean

It will have to be binned, might as well do it now. Those costs will eventually exceed £100bn - absurd.

[Downward]

How much to bin it bearing in mind contracts are in place and they can’t just walk away from the work already done ?

[stuckmojo]

Downward said:

How much to bin it bearing in mind contracts are in place and they can’t just walk away from the work already done ?

Amend the contracts for original value to deliver West-East improved connectivity.

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

I live near the route and there’s already a lot of works happening, most noticeably around Gt Missenden. I’d be surprised if they can it now, and let’s face it...who knew it would go waaaaay over budget.

[jakesmith]

Robertj21a said:

It will have to be binned, might as well do it now. Those costs will eventually exceed £100bn - absurd.

And yet when I replaced my radiators in the house, weighing 2 tonnes, I struggled to give them away for free as steel is only 2p a kilo

Yet suddenly when we need to lay some rails the cost is massive!

[Earthdweller]

It’s crazy

£88bn to make an already fast service a little bit faster

Yet, if I get on a train in Clitheroe it will take an hour and a half to get to Manchester.. a distance of some 30 miles

It really needs a rethink

[Digga]

Downward said:

How much to bin it bearing in mind contracts are in place and they can’t just walk away from the work already done ?

Too far gone for that. It is definitely better to move forward, not least because for the future, the project will deliver much needed capacity.

Earthdweller said:

It’s crazy

£88bn to make an already fast service a little bit faster

Yet, if I get on a train in Clitheroe it will take an hour and a half to get to Manchester.. a distance of some 30 miles

It really needs a rethink

As has been said repeatedly, the benefit of the system has been greatly miss-sold. The real issue for the future is capacity (and also redundancy in case of technical problems or even just routine maintenance) which HS2 does clearly deliver. People already using the route will know fo the many and various issues.