Awww, we'd like to trust you on that but you've not really earned that trust, what will all the pledges you break.
Do you see how that works lads, how 'Trust' works? It doesn't come from insulting critics and talking over them.
Quite apart from anything else, #HS2 seems to be a case of looking glass #economics.... every time the project's extent is reduced (in length & scope), the budget rises.... perhaps if they agreed to build the whole original thing it would become much cheaper??
Me talking with a friend:
Okay, hear me out, new billionaire idea.
HS1 is above ground, right?
Connect HS1 to the railway that goes through Camden Road (editor note: this is the North London line)
And somehow connect the track between Kensal Green and Queen park to Old Oak Common
Just spit balling ideas
When the #northern stretch of #HS2 was canned last year, there was a widely held view that a swift sell-off of compulsory purchased land on route would make reviving the #rail project impossible & the sales would hand handy profits to the 'friends of Rishi'.
However, it now seems (as always) things have moved much more slowly, and no land sales are likely before the election, leaving Labour (if elected) the option to reviving HS2 North.
Whether that's a good or bad thing is another matter!
By announcing that the money that has been saved by binning large elements of #HS2 & replacing it with the hodgepodge of fragmented projects in the (so-called) Network North is now going to be spent on filling potholes in #London.
If you didn’t read it yet, with the recent(ish) news of HS2 being cancelled, over at @lonrec a deep breath was taken, time given to let the dust settle and room made for a sense of perspective before sharing an analysis of what went wrong.
By @LongBranchMike and friends: A deep dive into the HS2 debacle.
Quite apart from concerns about the costing & planning for #RishiSunak's #NetworkNorth rail proposals (intended to replace aspects of #HS2), for those of us living in #Lancaster & the surrounding areas, once again the large urban area of Lancaster-Morecambe is right in the middle of a blank area....
There's a strange blindness about Lancaster; we have a top 10 University, a major new visitor economy development (Eden North) & a large population yet somehow are always missing from plans!
Perhaps symbolic of the mess that is UK #transport policy is in, #RishiSunak looks likely to pledge money saved by axing #HS2 will be used to fill potholes in #roads.
Most of us would welcome less potholes (don't get me wrong), but the transfer of funds from a pubic transport project to maintenance of #infrastructure that supports car journeys is not really quite the right direction if one is serious about #climatechange actions... but then the #Tories aren't!
@jon
Reminiscent of the shiny-thing-fetishism (and agglomerationism) in the UK that, until it all fell apart, prioritised investment in #HS2 over decent regional rail. Crap, unreliable trains in the north. Wales doesn't even have an electrified line.
Catch up on the Snowy Hydro 2.0 debacle on Four Corners “Tunnel Vision” this Monday. Originally set to meet its 2024 deadline and budgeted at $2 billion, the project now eyes 2030 completion and costs looking to tally up to $12 billion. Reporter Angus Grigg investigates the reasons behind the delay and increased costs, including issues with the tunnel boring machine, Florence. Remember, even the biggest projects can run into hiccups! Let's hope they don't get tunnel vision in solving these problems. https://abctv.com.au/2023/10/23/amazing-four-corners.html
@abctv @DavidPenington
Hey, there should be a bunch of experts on large infrastructure projects available for work soon who could help - plenty of experience on the UK's #HS2 project which seems quite applicable.
Buy at a premium, sell at a loss. I don't think it's us who need the maths lessons, Rishi.
🤬🤬🤬
Times: "Sale of HS2 land to lose £100m of taxpayers’ money
Most of it was bought at a premium under compulsory purchase" https://archive.ph/6jc4P
Spain’s high-speed trains aren’t just efficient, they have transformed people’s lives.
The country has managed to build itself the longest high-speed rail network in Europe and the second longest in the world, now spanning approximately 4,000km (and still expanding).
"A fiasco like [the UK's] HS2 could never happen here – our fast train network is so popular that no Spanish government would dare give up on it".