HS2 is officially ‘unachievable’ after being given red rating
HS2 is officially ‘unachievable’ after being given red rating
Problems with first two phases, from London to Birmingham and then to Crewe, ‘do not appear to be resolvable’
Was literally discussing this last night. China built a whole high speed rail network across its country for £300 billion and we're £100 billion in and don't even have a single train available. It's actually insane.
That's not really comparable. China bulldozes through land with little regard for the societal or environmental impact. The UK is a place of natural beauty and has laws against doing that. It's right that we have proper surveys and planning permissions needed for this sort of thing, in my opinion!
Not sure why people are downvoting you, you're right. Checks and balances cost money, and in broad terms we're right to have those checks and balances. Maybe we need to reduce the burden slightly but our approach isn't totally wrong.
Even the chaotic Spanish have managed to build a decent high speed rail network. While they don't have the population density of the south east of England, they seem to be much more organised. Perhaps it's really Britain that's chaotic, certainly when it comes to infrastructure projects that aren't for cars?
I don't even know what to say to this. You have inherent biases and that's fair, but you should try and address them internally rather than just posting them. To suggest that China doesn't do proper surveys and just bulldozes through land without regard for societal or environmental impact sounds racist AF.
France has 3000 kilometres of high speed rail compared to our 100.
Let's put it this way: Any HS2 that is not connected to the HS1 is a stupid idea from the beginning.
Do you really imagine people coming from the EU wanting to drag all their stuff through the f-ing Tube to reach the connecting bullet train to the north? Heck, this is already a pain in the ass with the crappy normal trains in the UK. I once needed to go from Hastings to Cambridge by train, and vividly remember having to walk between Kings Cross and Kings Cross Themselink (and back) with a load of luggage and a handicapped wife.
The HS1-HS2 link would've been great, had HS1 been built to terminate at the underground King's Cross station that never ended up being built. As is it is, it doesn't really go together nicely. But also the bigger problem is with the immigration and security theatre required to go through the tunnel, meaning you either have to change trains or have all of that at every other station that the trains would call at in the UK, which isn't really feasible. If we could reduce (or remove) these requirements that would be great but we've been moving in the opposite direction.
That said, the main point of HS2 is to move the existing long distance services (which don't mesh well with slower trains, reducing capacity) off of our existing mainlines, creating a lot of capacity for more local and freight services across the country.
that would be great but we’ve been moving in the opposite direction.
Well, maybe the UK will return to civilisation before HS2 is finished...
Wheelchair = luggage trolley.
The looks I'd get trolleying around my dear mum in her chair, absolutely laden with luggage or bags. I can only assume people thought I was some kind of monster doing that to an elderly lady, when in actual fact she was the one who would buy too much or insist on carrying it all.
Not that this would have helped in your case. IME trains are not wheelchair accessible. In theory they are, but when you turn up on the day, the lift's not working or you need to take 5 sets of stairs to get a connection, so that you end up having to take another train to a different station in the hope of their lift actually working, to take a cab to the station you were just at. Never again, basically.
@Noit Funny how we never see the same reports for motorways — that do exactly the same thing!
All sorts of standards are being applied to HS2 that don't get applied to a road that length, from cost per mile, to blowouts, to land acquisition, to animal habitat, to community consultation … and just general media scrutiny.
@Noit It's almost like the road lobby wanted HS2 to fail or something
Do they mean unachievable for the budget?
Yes. Basically saying more money or less scope, pick one.