HS2 - Birmingham to Manchester
HS2 - Birmingham to Manchester
The PM's supporters will be hoping the uncertainty surrounding HS2 won't be what lingers in the public's mind.
With the looming announcement to scrap HS2 connecting Birmingham to Manchester. Thankfully my days of commuting by train are over. What I fail to understand is what advantages it really would have. Up'ed capacity they say. But with the WFH agenda fully embedded and here to stay, I really think it's the best decision to make and stop haemorrhaging money on an ever growing money pit. What are your thoughts?
What are your thoughts?
The biggest benefit is capacity, with the fast intercity trains running on a new line you have much more space to run more local and freight services on existing lines. Due to the current difference in speeds on the same lines, the capacity is limited even more because trains have to be spaced out more to stop them catching up with each other, so you get more than one extra trains capacity on the existing lines for each intercity train moved off.
With regards to WFH, it's not as big of an impact as you might think, and even those working from home still travel. Rail usage is mostly back to how it was pre pandemic, but with some changes. There's now more leisure traffic than there was before, and fewer commuters.
It's really not a good idea to stop at this point. We've committed to the most expensive part which will be under-used without the rest. The tories have had more than a decade being in charge and they've done nothing to try to control the costs, while also trying to reduce risk which then increases costs. There's also the myth that has become pervasive recently that government debt works like household debt, which isn't true. Most government debt is owned by the Bank of England, which is controlled by the government. In harder economic times the government should be spending more to stimulate the economy, not continually imposing austerity.
So the compromise is diverting the money that was allocated to other travel infrastructure ventures up North. Just categorically shows the contractors were either incompetent with their forecasting, or negligent with their execution. No inquiry, just closed book, 'Next'.
The "reallocation" is bullshit. If they're spending money in Manchester in the next few years it isn't the same money that would've been used for HS2 because that wasn't due to be delivered until later. And the majority of the projects are just things they've already promised to do before and have already been neglecting. The tory manifesto of 2015 promised electrification of the midland main line to Sheffield, and notably the new list of promises won't bring the massive increase in capacity that HS2 would have, and that we need. On top of that a quarter of this money is going to fixing potholes...
There's many reasons why HS2's costs have risen, but notably it was the tories who've been in power the whole time and have had the opportunity to look into it, but have decided it isn't worth the effort apparently.
The only way to guarantee a complete line to London is to start it in Manchester
This is the best summary I could come up with:
It's probably safe to assume that there wasn't a grand plan in Downing Street for the Conservative Party conference to become overwhelmed by speculation about HS2.
In his interview with BBC Breakfast this morning, Rishi Sunak insisted that his colleagues are not talking about the railway, but instead about his new policies on net zero and motorists.
Last night I was chatting to two MPs, both very supportive of the prime minister, one broadly in favour of the northern leg being scrapped, one somewhat opposed.
From then, the cat was out of the bag that the project was at least under review, even if it took more bouts of briefing and leaks for it to become clear that Mr Sunak was leaning towards cancelling the line.
It is an opportunity for his voice, finally, to become the loudest in a conference which after all is designed to give the public a better idea of his approach to government and his personality.
Once we actually know what will happen to HS2 and what investments the government might be making instead in transport links within the north, the discussion will move onto those specifics rather than the communications difficulties the Conservatives have had on this subject.
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