The farce that is HS2

yup the cost per mile of HS2 or the cost to build 2,420 houses every mile.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9000911/sorry-but-hs2-is-still-going-nowhere/

 

[Davek0974]

It's a total waste of cash that we don't have.

Pure political folly.

 

[MikeJ]

I'm not sure you can call political. It would be political to get rid of it. Public opinion appears to be against it. The politicians seem to think building it would have long term benefits to the country, and are willing to suffer the short term backlash from the public.

 

[Psl]

Don't know much about this new hornby train line, except that a friend of mine whose home is on the proposed route couldn't sell his house, now he can, for more money and some he gets compensation.

What is the point of this new train line? We certainly don't want southerners getting up to the capital of England - Mancland - any quicker

We most certainly don't want the blue faced Mel Gibson look a likes getting down from the glens into Mancland any quicker either, unless of course there is a high speed spur line to Blackpool?

And what about the pretty countryside, that will be ruined?

 

[10032012]

yup the cost per mile of HS2 or the cost to build 2,420 houses every mile.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9000911/sorry-but-hs2-is-still-going-nowhere/

90% of new flats and houses are purchased by investors (typically overseas) this screws over British families who then have to pay over the odds to buy their first home, rent a flat or buy property.

 

[Nuno]

90% of new flats and houses are purchased by investors (typically overseas) this screws over British families who then have to pay over the odds to buy their first home, rent a flat or buy property.

Where is that from?
All I could find was 75% of London newbuilds are bought by foreigners, and that amounted to about 2000 properties

About 67,000 houses were built in the first 6 months of 2013 in England.

But it would still be cheaper to demolish Birmingham and build it 25 miles closer to London. Far cheaper than HS2

 

[nelioneil]

I agree the scheme is a waste of money. Maybe in the future it can be looked at, but right now there are more pressing issues with the railways. Britain is suffering because of its dated infrastructure.

Personally, if you are looking for a vote winner:

• Nationalise the whole railway system, including maintenance, tracks and trains. It's an essential service, so should be run in the interest of the public, not shareholders. Ticket prices and revenue should be just enough to cover costs.
• Re open a lot of branch lines which Mr Beeching suggested closing down. Apparently the current railway system is just one third of what it used to be, before the closures. However, with the Green belt, its obvious there would need to be more tunnelling in certain parts of the country.
• Invest in the current railway lines. Especially the West Coast Mainline in particular, that is almost the backbone of England to Scotland.
• A simpler ticketing system.

 

I agree the scheme is a waste of money. Maybe in the future it can be looked at, but right now there are more pressing issues with the railways. Britain is suffering because of its dated infrastructure.

Personally, if you are looking for a vote winner:

• Nationalise the whole railway system, including maintenance, tracks and trains. It's an essential service, so should be run in the interest of the public, not shareholders. Ticket prices and revenue should be just enough to cover costs.
• Re open a lot of branch lines which Mr Beeching suggested closing down. Apparently the current railway system is just one third of what it used to be, before the closures. However, with the Green belt, its obvious there would need to be more tunnelling in certain parts of the country.
• Invest in the current railway lines. Especially the West Coast Mainline in particular, that is almost the backbone of England to Scotland.
• A simpler ticketing system.

Quite agree seems most of these so called privatised industries continue to be subsidised in various ways by the tax payer,even though charges have increased dramatically.Railfares in particular can not compete with air travel ridiculous.

Now we have royal mail described best as a license to print money.

 

[Philip Hoyle]

There's be far more public support if the building of it started at the North and worked south. As it stands, it's just London <> Birmingham and very few people north of the Midlands have any confidence or belief that we'll see any benefits of it in our working lifetimes.

 

[sirearl]

They are still trying to push HS2.

Only 8% of journeys are by rail of these only 2% are long distance.

65% of all rail journeys start in London.

the first part of the M1 62 miles cost 400 million at todays prices.

So as over 90% of journeys are by road how can they justify spending upwards of 40 billion on rail.

One can build an awfull lot of roads with 40 billion.

I would also challenge whether rail can beat road on journey times door to door.

 

[Ian J]

Public opinion appears to be against it.

It's due to run 150 yards from my house so public opinion here is definitely against it

 

[Excel Expert]

As someone who almost exclusively travels by train here in the UK and Europe I thought I would chuck in some observations.

1. The vast majority of the UK railway was built during the industrial revolution. Most of the train routes (especially here in Wales) still follow the routes laid out then. These are not routes created for the benefit of passengers. In Europe they have seen major upgrades and new routes added on a regular basis going back as WWII.

2. People wont travel on the trains until they are as reliable as European trains. Until people use trains in large numbers they will need subsidising and will cost us money. If we invest in the train network, more people will use them and the need for subsidies will drop.

3. In Europe businesses plan their offices around train stations. For example, I've done a lot of work for Pepsico at various offices around Europe. Each and every one of their offices is within a very short walk of a railway station. I discussed this observation with one of their directors and he revealed it was their policy - if there wasn't a reliable railway service they just looked elsewhere.

4. As well as HS2, here in Wales we are looking at a major electrification program. It will increase the frequency of connections to Bristol / London as well as making public transport far, far more reliable and frequent than it is now. As a part of this the Welsh Assembly say they have found a number of companies looking to move from London and are only considering routes along the HS2 route or the electrified route to Swansea. There criteria for these locations are good rail connections to London.

In theory this will either create jobs or help move jobs from London to other areas.

I personally love the fact that we are now looking to invest in our rail networks in order to bring it in line with the rest of Europe. After seeing the way these big businesses choose locations for offices I also believe it will create jobs. The question is value for money and how much business will it create - those I'm not so sure of the answers to.