Long time no see - who's got opinions about HS2?

[Kat Haylock]

They all come crawling back eventually!

Hey everyone. Lovely to be back and see some old faces (usernames?)!

I'm working with Chris and the team on UKBF's articles at the moment, and want to hear some opinions about HS2 and the govt scrapping the Leeds leg/announcing the integrated rail plan.

Does the announcement affect your business in any way? Will the plans "level up" the North? Are you optimistic or have you already resigned yourself to a lifetime of that Leeds train with the wooden benches?

Let's hear your thoughts.

(I had a crisis over whether this should be in General Business or Time Out - I'm very rusty so mods feel free to move it!)

 

[IanSuth]

I am down south so not directly affected BUT if HS2 / Northern Powerhouse Rail was any part of levelling up then the first priority would have been a high speed trans Pennine route followed by building south towards London, then the North would have benefitted from it early on rather than having to wait for it to crawl up through the home counties - as a bonus i suspect there would have been far less environmental protest in Leeds/Manchester or Birmingham not least as I believe it would be replacing diesel lines with electrified and when it reached London it would be the end not beginning of a project so also less likely to attract tunnel dwelling swampies

 

[DontAsk]

I am a real train fan, my business is model railways. Having said that, HS is, and always has been, a white elephant vanity project. Scrapping as much of it as possible is a good thing.

Levelling up doesn't mean being able to get to London a few minutes quicker. It means having the infrastructure and resources in place to thrive locally. It means allowing local people to make local decisions without politically driven interference (thinking of Whitehaven here).

The money would be much better spent on cross-pennine and similar upgrades and local systems around the larget towns/cities to get people off the road, but that requires the trains/trams to go where people want to go.

 

[fisicx]

Complete waste of money. The whole need for HS2 has been negated by changes to how we work and communicate. It’s going to be a BWE with the only winners being the contractors and consultants.

 

[NickGrogan]

The wrong answer to the wrong problem. Economists and politicians like it, no one else.

Anyone who thinks Leeds economy is improved by potentially getting away from it very slightly faster clearly shouldn't be in charge of anything.

 

[Paul Norman]

I live in the North East. This project is of zero relevance here. It rather confirms the assumption of the locals that the government think that the north is that part of the Edgeware Road between numbers 33 and 91.

 

[japancool]

It was a good idea, but like everything else in this country to do with rail, it would have been overpriced, the trains would have been regularly delayed, and it would have been staffed by hostile jobsworths who regard every passenger as a potential fare-dodger.

 

[Ian J]

I am one of unfortunate people who will have HS2 running 100 yards from there house but no local access to use it. Additionally the building work will cause chaos locally for over a year

 

[Deleted member 335660]

They all come crawling back eventually!

Hey everyone. Lovely to be back and see some old faces (usernames?)!

I'm working with Chris and the team on UKBF's articles at the moment, and want to hear some opinions about HS2 and the govt scrapping the Leeds leg/announcing the integrated rail plan.

Does the announcement affect your business in any way? Will the plans "level up" the North? Are you optimistic or have you already resigned yourself to a lifetime of that Leeds train with the wooden benches?

Let's hear your thoughts.

(I had a crisis over whether this should be in General Business or Time Out - I'm very rusty so mods feel free to move it!)

Hi Kat,
I now live in Spain and they have just introduced a high speed connection between Madrid and Malaga, takes two and half hours and costs €65 first class. It’s normally a 6-7 hour drive. Oh, and you cannot get on the train less their is a seat!

We came back to UK and I decided to get a First Class ticket as a treat for my wife. It turned out to be different coloured seats at the end of a normal coach with no room for our cases and we just about got a seat. A complete rip off.

So, there is nothing wrong in principle with a high speed link. The problem I think is the way the railways are operated and funded in the UK. We should see the railways as the best and easiest way to travel and transport goods; but we seem happier to clog our motorways and spend billions on roads that then clog up again.

 

[Mark T Jones]

It will have absolutely no direct impact on me.

However, I'm surprised at the ecrapping, simply because I thought that infrastructure spending was part of the great QE plan.

Overall, whilst I'm not informed about the whole HS2 project (the number of people in Leeds complaining about its s scrapping suggests they do see value in it) I do see eail investment as as part of the solution to environmental concerns

 

[fisicx]

Hi Kat,
I now live in Spain and they have just introduced a high speed connection between Madrid and Malaga, takes two and half hours and costs €65 first class. It’s normally a 6-7 hour drive. Oh, and you cannot get on the train less their is a seat!

London to Birmingham takes about 2 1/2 hours to drive. 1 1/2 hours on the train, HS2 will shave about 20 minutes off that. By the time it's finished it's going to be almost redundant as the number of people making this journey is reducing.

Spending cash on infrastructure is great. This isn't good value for money.

 

[Gordon - Commercial Finance]

What about the true north?
Its currently quicker and much, much cheaper to fly on my regular trips to Birmingham (flying from Edinburgh).

 

[japancool]

What about the true north?
Its currently quicker and much, much cheaper to fly on my regular trips to Birmingham (flying from Edinburgh).

I think infrastructure spending north of the border is the purview of the Scottish Government?

 

[gpietersz]

I moved from Cheshire a few months ago, and there no one I know there was very positive about it, and many were opposed.

 

[Cookie monster 00]

I have to say I think the now cancelled Leeds - Bradford - Manchester would have been a much better way to spend money. People needs to get around the north more than they need to get to the south.

Leeds to London is about 2hrs and a bit and that is fine for most people. but Bradford to Manchester is poor and more important.

 

[CoderraLtd]

I think that it was never about connecting the north, it was about extending the commuter belt for London. It will never go past Crewe - if it even gets that far. If they were serious about connecting the north that's where they would have started.

 

[thetiger2015]

I think that it was never about connecting the north, it was about extending the commuter belt for London. It will never go past Crewe - if it even gets that far. If they were serious about connecting the north that's where they would have started.

They needed to use the North to get access to the funding for it. They have no intention of 'levelling up' anything outside of the southern half of England. If anything, they just want to level it completely....there is no up.

 

[paulears]

I can't really get worked up about HS2 as I live in a county with the 100 miles to London taking 3 hours by train and we don't have any motorways at all.

 

[simon field]

Is the idea that there’s going to be freight on this new railway?

If not, why not and who’s going to benefit from this?

 

[alan1302]

Is the idea that there’s going to be freight on this new railway?

If not, why not and who’s going to benefit from this?

No freight, just passengers. As to why - it's a government project with not much thought to it!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Spend the money on making the existing rail network suitable for fast container traffic with ability to drop off and load at all main line stations. Many stations still have unused sidings and freight mainly moving at night

 

[thetiger2015]

Spend the money on making the existing rail network suitable for fast container traffic with ability to drop off and load at all main line stations. Many stations still have unused sidings and freight mainly moving at night

I think it's all been broken up in to private ownership / land owners / rail service operators / property leaseholders etc.

The sidings will be owned by someone else, the buildings on the sidings will be owned by a property company, never will they communicate with each other, hence you get the current situation of unfathomable waste of useful space for more efficient rail services. Most railway services only use a small percentage of the land they have trains on, because they are probably leasing it per square metre from someone else, who also owns an empty warehouse on site but won't let anyone use it..because..greed..

 

[Clodbuster]

Would it have been cheaper going underground?? No forced purchases, environmental issues, out of sight, straight lines?