HS2 Cancelled to the North..
So much for the Northern Powerhouse
- Thread starter Harry Bloomfield
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Is Manchester not the north then?
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Deleted member 174758
Yes! Unless you happen to be in Newcastle (on Tyne). So, having spent billions on Crossrail 1, then Crossrail 2, and waffled on and on about HS2, the Northern Powerhouse and "levelling up" it seems like "the North" is Birmingham (where HS2 will now terminate) and that only the long overdue electrification of the Trans Pennine route will happen. It's nice to see that our (northern) tax pomnds are beinmg spent on projects which yet again will not benefit us. And people in the south wonder why some of us up here aren't happy with Boris the Bozo and has happy band of sleaze mongers
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The government has refused to confirm or deny reports that it will finally cancel plans for the HS2 link to Leeds this week, and instead fund a hodgepodge of disparate projects which favour Conservative constituencies and leave mysterious gaps in the rail network.
Obviously more pork barrel politics.
HS2 cancelled but that money will still be spent. The party of probity.
Is Manchester not the north then?
It is in the North, but will not get the HS2. It will only run London to Brum, with a mess of line upgrades for the North.
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The money will be spent in Tory constituencies - its pork barrel politics straight from the USA.
Ferguson riots were in part caused by electioneering. The republicans were voted in and quickly cut taxes to remain in power, to cover the shortfall they encouraged the Police to increase handing out of fines in poor neighbourhoods.
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Deleted member 174758
Talking to a railway engineer (having spent 2-1/2 years meeting these guys at the "butty van") it was rather obvious what the big plus of HS2 would have been in the north - by taking some of the load off the west coast line south of Manchester, the Midland main line and the East Coast route south of Leeds it would have allowed the operators to reduce rail congestion. The knock on would have been more train slots and/or better timings on a slew of local services that started or ended at Manchester (Piccadilly), Leeds and Sheffield as well as easing timing restrictions on the Trans Pennine "spine" between Manchester and Leeds. As delays cost money and increase pollution the overall effect on local services alone would have been to see improved time keepionmg with reduced atmospheric pollution (bearing in mind that about 50% of commuter traffic into Manchester and Leeds is still on diesel powered trains). So levelling up? More like levelling off
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Round here to be accepted by the locals you need to embrace the local culture, like taking up clog dancing (don't laugh - but one of my mates used to be a clog maker who specialised in making dancing clogs)
learn local songs
and enjoy the local wit (1:35)
Oh aye, and treat thy whippet reet!
learn local songs
and enjoy the local wit (1:35)
Oh aye, and treat thy whippet reet!
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In London you have to take up the local culture to fit in. Some here having a good old knees up
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You sure? Is it not just the Leeds section that is in doubt? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59292120
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Deleted member 174758
Turns out that they are truncating the Leeds/Sheffield section at Nottingham and the Manchester section at Crewe. By any stretch of the imagination those are both relatievly useless end points - Nottingham is on the Midland main line from Sheffield and Leeds which is actually the slowest and worst main line in England whilst the question has to be asked "who the hell wants to go to Crewe" (I've worked there, believe me it isn't stellar). These end points won't relieve congestion in either Manchester or Leeds (the biggest "plus" of HS2 as far as regional rail travel is concerned). It would have been far better to run to Manchester and cut out the Leeds leg entirely, or run to Leeds and cut out the Manchester leg (although in economic terms cutting out Leeds in favour of Manchester, based on growth rate, investment, etc would probably have made more sense in terms of growing the UK economy). This ois obviously anothe pointless political fudge. I wonder how Mr Wif-Waf will sell this one?
HS2 shouldn't have been granted the go ahead from the off.
It's another half baked Boris vanity project, which won't work be years delayed and cost way more than the revised revised again estimate..
The idea itself is sound, but the execution is at best extremely poor.
And now with the changes now being made, it's almost pointless and an obscene waste of money.
Still I bet their is plenty of chums in the contract department and everyone's getting their bit....
It's another half baked Boris vanity project, which won't work be years delayed and cost way more than the revised revised again estimate..
The idea itself is sound, but the execution is at best extremely poor.
And now with the changes now being made, it's almost pointless and an obscene waste of money.
Still I bet their is plenty of chums in the contract department and everyone's getting their bit....
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Deleted member 174758
Is it a waste, though? West Coast is at capacity with long distance and local passsenger trains conflict and freight makes it even worse. East coast is little better. At rush hour both Leeds City station and Manchester Piccadilly station are very congested and delays are common. HS2 woiuld relieve some of this by using separate (new) lines. Take HS2 out of the mix and all the other stuff is fiddling around at the edges, It won't give us what is urgently required - more capacity at rush hours
The question is, is HS2 100 billion pounds well spent? How many years will it take to recoup that money,
That figure is only the latest estimate based on 2019 figures (according to BBC). It's likely to go way over budget, and if crossrail is anything to go by (another government monumental cock up) it will likely be years behind schedule.
Crossrail is currently 4 years behind when it should have opened...
