[Travel] HS2 to be scrapped?

[BrightonCottager]

The HS2 is roughly a mile from my house.
The new build has completely devastated the area around, with the surrounding countryside (fields), becoming a dumping ground for all of the earth that's been dug up
Local roads closing frequently for HS2 reasons.
A rise in HGV movement because of HS2.
The noise is unbearable.
The tunnel exits out of the ground near West Ruislip and then onwards to Bucks.
@BrightonCottager will concur on the above.

This.
Not only is it devastating the surrounding area (Green Belt - but that doesnt appear to matter when it comes to transport infrastructure), but its closed off one of the best local quiet lanes over the M25 used by walkers, cyclists and horseriders.

 

[GT49er]

We need infrustructure, but not at any price. I just wonder how much of every pound spent actually goes towards building rather than lining someone’s pocket including interest payments. You get the feeling from Wembley, mill.dome, covid gear and so on that most money disappears into an unaccountable and untraceable black hole.

....and indeed, also the same with Crossrail no doubt. In fact you can trace it right back to the 1960s and Ernest Marples!

 

[GT49er]

Seriously I do. We lost our sister to the north in 1976. She was as bright as they come but ended up as a barmaid in a Stockport pub called The Wellington.
Tried to get ME !!!!!!!!! Her own brother to drink Boddingtons and Tetleys.

Tetleys eh? Perhaps you've only ever drunk the specially dreadful stuff they produce for export south of Watford? Tetleys isn't all good north of Watford either, but it can be quite decent and sometmes is. Boddingtons though ..........................

 

[BadFish]

I think we should be kept apart.

Yep, stop messing about with high speed rail.

A wall is what's needed.

 

[clapham_gull]

I used to quite like the idea of HS2 but changed my view a long while ago.

It doesn't go anywhere you can't get already. I'd like to see new routes, not faster existing ones.

I realise that a lot of those old lines were shut because they were "loss making". Is the M25 expected to make a profit ?

 

[WhingForPresident]

Allegedly It's being announced on Thursday that it's not going to Manchester.

The business case isn't there anymore post-covid.

 

[jcdenton08]

It went over budget by £4b, no surprise. But it is fantastic, we used it in June during yet another rail strike, boarding at Abbey Wood, 20 minutes to the West End.

Superb service.

 

[Happy Exile]

It's the Southern leg of HS2 that should be scrapped completely IMHO. It's the North of England that needs a proper joined-up modern train service worthy of the name

I agree. I regularly work in Manchester and it's often almost as quick for me to travel 160 miles by train from the south as it is for my colleague who lives just 45 miles to the north of Manchester. Madness.

Broadband infrastructure, vital for the economy and access to services these days also lags behind most of Western Europe by a lot and also has a north / south divide in the UK that favours us southerners.

 

[Official Old Man]

Two journeys. These are dates at random in the future.
Kings Cross to Edinburgh. 4.30 hours. 400 miles cost £60 to £80
Lille to Marseille. 4.40 hours. 600 miles. £22 to £45
Yes, we need a high speed train service, but one that works, is on time, is reliable but most important, it has to be cheap.

 

[jackalbion]

Two journeys. These are dates at random in the future.
Kings Cross to Edinburgh. 4.30 hours. 400 miles cost £60 to £80
Lille to Marseille. 4.40 hours. 600 miles. £22 to £45
Yes, we need a high speed train service, but one that works, is on time, is reliable but most important, it has to be cheap.

I’ll be impressed if you can get Kings Cross to Edinburgh for £80, the pricing really is a complete joke, far too expensive to be useful.

 

[Seagull58]

Unbelievably poor budgeting and a lot of company shareholders rubbing their hands. Costs were always going to go through the roof when there were bound to be other pressures on public finances. Why the hell they didn’t just sensibly upgrade the existing system at a fraction of the cost I have no idea. Just been to York on the existing network. Took an hour and three quarters to travel 205 miles - 125 mph! Jeeees - it must be possible to replicate this on other lines.

You could bring back the Virgin Rail tilting trains to navigate the bends. That worked well.

 

[Husty]

This.
Not only is it devastating the surrounding area (Green Belt - but that doesnt appear to matter when it comes to transport infrastructure), but its closed off one of the best local quiet lanes over the M25 used by walkers, cyclists and horseriders.

A few small sacrifices well worth it for the wider benefit of the country then.

Boo f***ing hoo to your bridge over the M25 being shut for a couple of years. Should we just never do anything any more as a country because someone somewhere might have to put up with a bit of noise now and then? Embarrassing.

 

[Official Old Man]

I’ll be impressed if you can get Kings Cross to Edinburgh for £80, the pricing really is a complete joke, far too expensive to be useful.

I paid a lot more for two returns last year, less the couples discount.
I randomly chose 17th October. Prices are £51 for the 05:48. £136 for the 07:00 and evens out around £66 for the rest of the morning. Get past 15:00 and it almost doubles in price to over £100 to £136.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Nobody will remember the budget when the thing is up and running. Nor the here-today-gone-tomorrow politicians. A lot of the Victorian railway entrepreneurs whose names are long forgotten went bust building the very same infrastucture that we rely on to this day. And how often did the Channel Tunnel cause political storms by going wildly over budget before it finally opened for business? Nobody gives it a second thought now, nobody cares. You're building an infrastructure for the next hundred years. Just build the damn thing!

Then build HS3 down to West Country...

 

[essbee1]

A few small sacrifices well worth it for the wider benefit of the country then.

Boo f***ing hoo to your bridge over the M25 being shut for a couple of years. Should we just never do anything any more as a country because someone somewhere might have to put up with a bit of noise now and then? Embarrassing.

Well - I think you're in the tiny minority cocker.

 

[A1X]

Two journeys. These are dates at random in the future.
Kings Cross to Edinburgh. 4.30 hours. 400 miles cost £60 to £80
Lille to Marseille. 4.40 hours. 600 miles. £22 to £45
Yes, we need a high speed train service, but one that works, is on time, is reliable but most important, it has to be cheap.

The difference between a nationalised and a privatised railway right there

 

[jackalbion]

Well - I think you're in the tiny minority cocker.

Is he? I think when pushed most people in this country would like a new high speed railway between the cities of this country.

 

[essbee1]

Is he? I think when pushed most people in this country would like a new high speed railway between the cities of this country.

Of course. But not when it's been administered/run and executed by morons.

 

[jackalbion]

Of course. But not when it's been administered/run and executed by morons.

But the railway is going to have to be built eventually, and we are gonna have to have executed by someone.

 

[Randy McNob]

w small sacrifices well worth it for the wider benefit of the country then.

Boo f***ing hoo to your bridge over the M25 being shut for a couple of years. Should we just never do anything any more as a country because someone somewhere might have to put up with a bit of noise now and then? Embarrassing.

here here, always nimbys wherever you build it, the same people were saying we couldn't afford the Olympics and should be scrapped.