HS2 may not run through to central London - report

[Westham67]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64421566 They are making it up as they go along Its not surprising as ground was broken too early just to push to the project through Crossrail on steroids

[Dwight Van Mann]

The EU built Switzerland's rail network? When did Switzerland join?

[Mike Oxsaw]

What has the Brexit result got to do with the railways of Switzerland?

[nerd]

"As more and more roads go in , this should be the start not the end of sorting this great country out from Beecham to thatcher they killed us, what a mess as they built more and more roads ,whilst destroying the railways . No you need to buy new cars and attach to our power network now . We get this shit everytime all run over all pay for themselves quit quickly ,hs1 ,Wembley etc you are all being used to be done over again and your kids ."

[bobbymoore]

and also the A4421 which is also part of it.

[bobbymoore]

overbyyer 4:56 Wed Oct 4 He's talking about the A421 near Bicester and it is indeed the HS2 line. I drive by it at least twice a week.

[Far Cough]

"overbyyer 4:56 Wed Oct 4 Re: HS2 may not run through to central London - report ludo21 wrote... My only dealings with HS2 is driving past the route near Bicester about once every couple of months. They are working on a bridge there and (to the untrained eye) very little progress has been made in the last two years despite the appearance of continuous 'work going on'. If that scene is repeated the whole length of the line then no wonder it is a shambles. If your near Bicester it's more likely to be the East West line rather than HS2 Yeah, the Varsity line"

[northbankboy68]

I bet they wished the Brexit facts could change. They must think the gold standard of railways in geographically challenged Switzerland must have been created by magic since it is clearly beyond the competence of politicians and engineers to achieve it. Wankers.

[northbankboy68]

"I just loved his Trumpian nonsense - ""The facts have changed"". Twat."

[Mike Oxsaw]

"The PM may come out of HS2 with less shit stuck to him than everyone else so far connected to the farce. It was always a vanity project - a solution looking for a problem that didn't exist. Plenty of better ways to spend the money on (railway) infrastructure, but that particular SS Fat Cat has long sailed taking a big fat wad of taxpayers' money with it."

[overbyyer]

ludo21 wrote... My only dealings with HS2 is driving past the route near Bicester about once every couple of months. They are working on a bridge there and (to the untrained eye) very little progress has been made in the last two years despite the appearance of continuous 'work going on'. If that scene is repeated the whole length of the line then no wonder it is a shambles. If your near Bicester it's more likely to be the East West line rather than HS2

[ludo21]

'then calling it in at some point to prove that you actually were managing it all along'. So you think someone (anyone?) is coming out of this debacle looking good do you?

[Mike Oxsaw]

"Seems pretty obvious that this was set up from the start as a political patsy - allow the costs to spiral (enriching a select few with taxpayers' money in the process), then calling it in at some point to prove that you actually were managing it all along. I would be very surprised to find anyone who actually let/authorised the contracts for this still employed by either the government or it's civil service; they'll all be nicely looked after."

[chim chim cha boo]

"I don't even know why I posted the article below from that lefty rag The Daily Express, it doesn't surprise anyone by now, does it? Looking at 'related articles' on that same website I could have posted 'anger as billions of pounds spent on foreign companies working on HS2', all the stuff about the countryside getting fucked up, ancient history being pulled down or at least 50 other crimes, but we're all too worn out and jaded to read them."

[chim chim cha boo]

"I don't even know why I posted the article below from that lefty rag The Daily Express, it doesn't surprise anyone by now, does it? Looking at 'related articles' on that same website I could have posted 'anger as billions of pounds spent on foreign companies working on HS2', all the stuff about the countryside getting fucked up, ancient history being pulled down or at least 50 other crimes, but we're all too worn out and jaded to read them."

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

"They also binned off Sheffield. So that's the third, fourth and fifth biggest cities in England, plus Stoke which was tenth but is now plummeting down the list due to lack of investment, all kicked up the arse."

[chim chim cha boo]

"HS2 spends a FORTUNE buying up £1m homes - then Boris's father makes £2.5m profit from it THE Government has spent an average of £1 million per house under a scheme to buy properties blighted by the HS2 line but not in its immediate shadow. The homes fall under the need to sell scheme, which is for properties “substantially” affected by the line but too far away to qualify for express or voluntary purchase. The scheme is now the only way residents situated more than 120m from the controversial railway line can sell their homes at a guaranteed 100 per cent of the un-blighted market price. Those who apply have to prove they have tried and failed to sell their homes - with no offers within 15 per cent of the realistic asking price for three months. They also need to show they have a compelling reason to move. One of those to successfully use the scheme was Boris Johnson’s father Stanley, 74, who sold his London home for £150,000 more than the original asking price under “Need to Sell”. He had needed to move to be closer to an elderly relative. However, other neighbours have been refused permission to move. Of 335 applications received under the scheme, just 145 have been accepted, and only 83 properties bought. The Government bought Mr Johnson’s grade II listed Nash house in Camden’s Park Village East for £4.4 million in March 2022 Two years earlier he had put it on the market for £4.25 million Mr Johnson’s former neighbour Nick Carn has made three unsuccessful applications to sell his home since beginning the process in early 2016. In his official “petition” to the House of Lords last October he told the committee: “My problem is that I don’t actually expect to have a compelling reason to sell.” He has appealed to the government to adopt recommendations made by a House of Lords select committee to introduce a “voluntary purchase scheme” that would make it easier for residents to sell up when they don’t qualify under the distance criteria. Another of Mr Johnson’s neighbour, Helen Bryan, likened dealing with HS2 to speaking to a “marshmallow”. She said: “There are all different departments dealing with HS2, as far as I can tell they don’t know what they’re doing. It’s like speaking to a marshmallow. ""It’s been seven years since it was first announced. There is a constantly changing cast of characters involved and none of them seem to speak. “We have been to a select committee to speak about this and we still don’t know what is going on, we have asked and asked. “My husband sits on a residents sub committee and we still don’t get answers."""

[chim chim cha boo]

"Another Boris initiative like his wonderful Boris buses and Boris bikes. The first compulsory purchase of a house in the way of the proposed track from Euston? Yup, Boris's dad's house. You can bet what that gaff was valued at? For 3 of 4 years now Hampstead Rd has been a nightmare to walk up, let alone live near with hundreds of council flats demolished, machines working through the night on the tracks and dirt and filth everywhere, including through lockdown. They should leave it as it is like that bombed out town in Spain that they left as a reminder of the civil war. An apt monument for a terrible, corrupt government."

[scott_d]

Absolute bundles of money wasted in the rail industry. One of the remaining industries where there are still thousands of day-raters earning big bucks for doing very little. I would hazard a guess that some of the top guys in the rail industry are very close to MP's and so they can work out just how much money they can charge for certain projects/services which will make them a fortune but won't raise too many eye brows. That money filters down to some degree.

[RBshorty]

We’ll be back here in a decade or so. They will eventually have too invested shitoads into the transport infrastructure in the north west. (Unless they really do want it to crumble into the Irish Sea.?) It’s a vote winner for the Tories. You make two lots of people happy. The accountant’s and the nimby’s. Remember. When the Money gets tight. The Shit get’s real.!

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

"An absolute farce. A multi-billion pound project that was sold to the public exclusively as a prime project for 'levelling-up' the north with a massive improvement in northern infrastructure and journey times ends up being a massive waste of money that only pours more northern taxpayers' money into the south. So Manchester now kicked into touch along with, first, Stoke and then Leeds. I'm sure the 'red wall' will be hugely grateful come the general election..."

[ludo21]

Couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery. They will push back making any decisions until after next election and then blame the next government (probably Labour) for then pulling the plug on various bits. My only dealings with HS2 is driving past the route near Bicester about once every couple of months. They are working on a bridge there and (to the untrained eye) very little progress has been made in the last two years despite the appearance of continuous 'work going on'. If that scene is repeated the whole length of the line then no wonder it is a shambles.

[Bonds78]

Very good piece on the whole HS2 fiasco by Jonathon Tyler on the 'planet normal' podcast last week. He is an expert and veteran of all things railway and reveals some shocking examples of waste of time and money.

[Mike Oxsaw]

"""Reckoned that part of it was calculated as £47bn but put forward as £23bn""... That would surprise me not: trains, track & stations weere probably relegated to ""optional extras"" in an appendix to reduce the headline bid figure. Seen such things happen many, many times. As for not starting oop north, the thinking was clearly to have the project start paying back as much as possible as soon as possible and London-Birmingham was probably presented as that being the better option for doing that."

[Fauxstralian]

Was listening to some bloke who had been closely involved on 5Live this morning Reckoned that part of it was calculated as £47bn but put forward as £23bn ... according to whistle blowers and documents he had seen Also said the entry into Euston is 'impossible' as its the equivalent of an 8 storey building underground and has to fit between all the tube lines etc The conclusion seemed to be that they should have started with the Northern part which is crucial AN ABSOLUTE DOGS DINNER UNDER THOSE FISCAL GENIUSES THE TORIES

[Manuel]

"Correct decision. Spend billions to make what is already a short journey a little shorter? Let's face it, nowhere in the UK is far."