Hs2

[BARBaggies82]

What an absolutely monumental cluster f()k up it has been.

A wonderful idea in principal, done correctly and run by people who weren't doing so many back handers it ended up costing us tax paying billions more that it should do, it could have been a worthwhile project.

If it was going to be cancelled then it should have been done years ago, instead it was left to spiral out of control and continue on just to save face.

Now even the Birmingham to London stretch won't even go to Euston "without external investment", but instead to some place in the outskirts.

In the summer we took the kids to central London to see the sights (my 5 year old son is obsessed by big Ben, Westminster etc).
I haven't been on a train for about 25 years now so I was very apprehensive, especially when our train from Wolverhampton was cancelled due to a broken down train at New Street.
Luckily there was an earlier service still on the platform, so we jumped on that. The train had to go back to Stafford then down "another line" to Euston, avoiding the blockage in Brum.

Once at Stafford we were away and on the platform at Euston in.........

......1 hour and 3 mins.

How much quicker do people need to get there? And at what cost?

[soulman101]

Should starte from B'ham to Manchester and Leeds, 2nd phase would have been the the London link.
Since the financial crash, how much has been spent on the link to Canary Warf , now they all want to work from home.
I wonder if the Wednesbury to Merry Hill metro line will be finished in my lifetime.

[Omegstrat6]

Interesting read on the BBC website about this. One of the problems apparently is because building new roads or railways in the UK is massively more expensive than doing so in most of Europe. A large part of this is due to the legal processes and protections given to individuals who may be affected by the route/construction work so that gaining the permission to start the projects takes so much longer here. In France, for example, the quote was a bluntly put "when you drain a swamp you don't ask permission from the frogs". That said, I still think it right that we have such processes in the UK and feel that, regardless of easier planning permissions or cheaper materials and Labour costs in Europe, much of the issue with HS2 has been exceptionally poor management.