“Network North”

They even cut a 5hit load of trees down to promote the route via the city centre.

 

That's the mad thing. £44bn on the most pointless leg. We've already got three competing services running between Birmingham and London - another one is beyond pointless if it doesn't relieve capacity further up the WCML and on the ECML. Even if you're not convinced by HS2 overall (and frankly you should be, because it's great), you have to admit that building the most expensive bit in full and cutting the parts which will be way cheaper but much more valuable is absolutely bonkers.

 

Twas only ever going to be another London transport infrastructure project. Hence they built it from London (or at least the west of london out. ) Only this time they've extended the commutable reach to London. The other thing it does if you look at "interchange" it makes Birmingham airport better serve london, taking pressure off heathrow without having to build "boris island"

 

Nevermind train travel in Japan. Having seen the latest Nick Knowles show on Channel 5, we've a long way to go before double decker trains with electric bike charging points like they have in Italy.

 

Labour won’t be able to reinstate it even if they wanted to. The tories are making sure of that by cancelling any remaining safeguarded routes and selling the properties that have already been purchased where the route was meant to go.

 

It's nearly two years since Phase 2b was cancelled and it's all still 'safeguarded'.

 

Not for long.

 

Thanks for that FL... could I ask when that report was published?

 

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. . I knew next to nothing about this topic but feel schooled by all the posts.
Although not political myself the one thing I have greatly gained, is I just don't believe anything our government say.

 

Can I further ask on here why the us rail network proposals cost astronomically more?
I saw someone on tv the other day comparing ours to Spain. I have just Google it and the cost with stations was €15.2 per kilometer plus we have France ...well just unbelievable...
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/25/why-has-hs2-ended-up-being-so-expensive

 

Ignore the corporate stuff. This is a good explainer. Costs are high for 2 reasons the complexity of the job and the fact that since privatisation there has been little or no investment. Vinci our design partners can’t believe the state of our tracks.

Best analogy is Oakwell. The longer you leave it the worse it gets the more it costs to fix it.

 

One by one these new initiatives will be swept under the carpet, defunded and forgotten.

This government will give us nothing.

 

Yesterday. Immediately after the conference.

 

https://x.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1709529507659473192?t=EqydJbE7HMZ78samDPgppw&s=08 Brilliant

 

Several of them - the Manchester tram extension to the airport, and the Nottingham tram extension to Clifton South - were completed years ago, so it'll take some doing to remove them now...!

 

I wish I could get away with such massive lies at work.

This government is founded on the principle of dishonesty.

 

The idea of reopening long closed railway lines is, on first hearing, a great idea.

However, the majority of these old lines are now effectively wildlife parks with or without the inclusion of a cycle track. Losing them would be a disaster, we need to be encouraging cycling, not removing traffic free routes and we live in the most wildlife depleted country on the planet so anything which reduces habitat would be a kick in the teeth for nature.

 

I understand that where the line runs through Tory heartlands, it has been tunnelled at massive cost to placate the voters.

 

I was reading this morning that Japan are working on a MagLev line from Tokyo to Nagoya - a similar distance to London-Manchester. The new train has been delayed a little (expected 2027-8 iirc) and budget has increased (around £50bn), but it will complete the journey in around *40 minutes* - 90% will be tunnels. This is the sort of thing that we should be doing. And if it needs tunnels, then we build tunnels. It would probably be cheaper than buying all the surface land with less destructive impact on the environment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūō_Shinkansen

 

A bit like the new south Yorkshire-Manchester road link.
Though they will give "feasibility study" money to their benefactors without any intention of actually building owt.