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skybluetony176

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
Brighton Sky Blue said:
What a completely unmitigated fuck up

www.bbc.co.uk

HS2 will run through to London Euston, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says

This follows reports that rising costs could mean the rail link might stop in the suburbs of west London.
www.bbc.co.uk
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To quote Robin Williams it’s like partial circumcision. Either go all the way or forget it.

Surely if you have to get off a fast train on the outskirts of London to get a slow train to Euston it negates the purpose of the fast train in the first place. It’s barely quicker than existing routes from Birmingham to London in the first place and you’re now going to put a train change on the route and the second train is going to be slower than the one you got off. Add that into the equation and it might actually be faster to use an existing route and have the convenience of not having to change trains too. Got to be a wind up surely. Have I been in a coma and by some quirk of fate woke up on April fools day.
 
shmmeee

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
Deleted member 5849 said:
So what's the argument for HS2 full stop if it doesn't connect the North as it was supposed to, and now doesn't even connect London!
Click to expand...

I mean capacity is still needed, but not sure it’s going to help much if it doesn’t go to London. Though at least there’s the tube I guess? It really is pathetic. I’m a fan of the project, but we’ve really fucked it up.

Infrastructure in this country is a joke.
 
skybluetony176

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
Is this another case of the UK being unattractive to investors? The real issue being we can’t secure the extra funding needed to complete the projects most basic remit.
 
D

Deleted member 5849

Guest
shmmeee said:
I mean capacity is still needed, but not sure it’s going to help much if it doesn’t go to London. Though at least there’s the tube I guess? It really is pathetic. I’m a fan of the project, but we’ve really fucked it up.

Infrastructure in this country is a joke.
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The point being if it won't do what it's supposed to, it really has ripped up the historic Warwickshire countryside for no point.
 
B

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
skybluetony176 said:
To quote Robin Williams it’s like partial circumcision. Either go all the way or forget it.

Surely if you have to get off a fast train on the outskirts of London to get a slow train to Euston it negates the purpose of the fast train in the first place. It’s barely quicker than existing routes from Birmingham to London in the first place and you’re now going to put a train change on the route and the second train is going to be slower than the one you got off. Add that into the equation and it might actually be faster to use an existing route and have the convenience of not having to change trains too. Got to be a wind up surely. Have I been in a coma and by some quirk of fate woke up on April fools day.
Click to expand...

The Italians have had excellent high speed rail for ages and have used it not just to get to Rome faster but to connect everything up. There’s no excuse for being this bad.
 
skybluetony176

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
shmmeee said:
I mean capacity is still needed, but not sure it’s going to help much if it doesn’t go to London. Though at least there’s the tube I guess? It really is pathetic. I’m a fan of the project, but we’ve really fucked it up.

Infrastructure in this country is a joke.
Click to expand...
But if you have choice between a route that takes you into central London from Birmingham on one train or a route that requires 2 trains and most likely no advantage on time which one are most people going to choose? If it’s not delivering you into central London it’s going to be underutilised so the the capacity will never be met.
 
skybluetony176

skybluetony176

Well-Known Member
Just trying to get a handle on this. It is supposed to be 50 minutes faster from Birmingham to Euston, only now it’s not going to Euston. The suggestion is that it will now stop at Old Oak. Just checked, Old Oak to Euston is 40 minutes on existing stock. So basically that gives 10 minutes to get off one train to get on a second train to hopefully get to Euston at the same time as a train that could have got you there directly. Who is going to do that given the choice? In peak times people may not have a choice due to demand but at other times? What are they going to do? Run less trains on the existing route to force people on HS2? Inflate the price on the existing route to force people on HS2?
 
shmmeee

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
skybluetony176 said:
But if you have choice between a route that takes you into central London from Birmingham on one train or a route that requires 2 trains and most likely no advantage on time which one are most people going to choose? If it’s not delivering you into central London it’s going to be underutilised so the the capacity will never be met.
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Im inclined to agree. Not bringing it to Euston is dumb as rocks.
 
shmmeee

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
What are Labours infrastructure plans? Is it just “clean energy and nationalise rail” seems a bit unambitious TBH
 
Marty

Marty

Well-Known Member
skybluetony176 said:
Just trying to get a handle on this. It is supposed to be 50 minutes faster from Birmingham to Euston, only now it’s not going to Euston. The suggestion is that it will now stop at Old Oak. Just checked, Old Oak to Euston is 40 minutes on existing stock. So basically that gives 10 minutes to get off one train to get on a second train to hopefully get to Euston at the same time as a train that could have got you there directly. Who is going to do that given the choice? In peak times people may not have a choice due to demand but at other times? What are they going to do? Run less trains on the existing route to force people on HS2? Inflate the price on the existing route to force people on HS2?
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Not sure the 50 minutes faster is correct, I thought it was 20 mins faster? Pritty sure Cov to Euston is an hour on Avanti.
 
C

CCFCSteve

Well-Known Member
HS2 should’ve started top of country down if at all. Like most large public sector infrastructure projects, a shambles with budget blown years ago
 
C

CCFCSteve

Well-Known Member
fernandopartridge said:
Honestly Steve, what world do you live in?
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It’s a public sector project. Of course private sector is going to deliver it as you can’t just employ tens of thousands of random people to deliver a massive project but there has been no control of spending from the top

‘High Speed Two (HS2) Limited is the company responsible for developing and promoting the UK's new high speed rail network. It is funded by grant-in-aid from the government. HS2 Ltd is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Transport’

ps we also live in a country where everything is painfully slow to deliver
 
fernandopartridge

fernandopartridge

Well-Known Member
skybluetony176 said:
Aren’t the government borrowing that money from the money market?
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No, the government creates gilts to give institutions like pension funds long term safe investments (bonds), this is a choice it makes which has some merit. It does not need to borrow £ from anybody, it can create a £ at the strike of a key in the Bank of England.
 
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