Hs2..

[Consumer dude]

For or against the high speed rail ?

[BRIGADIER2JCS]

For!!

[dx100uk]

bring it inverness too

 

dx

[Consumer dude]

What I don't understand is why is it going to take about twenty years..

[sailor sam]

Totally against. It's very odd that we are cutting back on our defense budget but scrapping perfectly good aircraft and ships, slashing front line personnel as well, BUT we can find £32b to build this un-necessary railway.

 

Our country simply isn't big enough to warrant 250 mph train-travel. All it will save is about 20 to 30 minutes on the current journey time between B-ham and London. And who exactly going to be able afford to use it? I used to use the train every month to travel between Portsmouth and the Midlands with my 2 sons until it became cheaper to go by car. The fare now is around £120 return. I can do the same trip for over £30 less.

 

Sorry but I think the country can spend £32b on more important things.

[Consumer dude]

Where is this money coming from ? Is this public money ?

[firstclassx]

Where is this money coming from ? Is this public money ?

 

Of course it is public money. It is a public service which will bring much needed capacity,

 

When the first (conventional) railways were built in the 1800s, similar, if not greater opposition existed. People were blind to the benefits and only looked for immediate disadvantages and problems. Now, 200 years later, most of those lines are more popular than ever. Indeed, we would certainly suffer catastrophic economic issues if those railways did not exist. As it is, railways today are massively oversubscribed.

 

The situation repeats itself continually. People will say on here, and other media outlets, how it is a waste of money, nobody will benefit etc, but come around in another 100 years and citizens will wonder how the UK ever managed without High Speed lines. People will probably campaign for more (super) High Speed lines in the future.

 

The WCML is already at, or close to maximum capacity in key areas, and with increasing passenger numbers, year on year likely to continue, a new, major infrastructure is required. 11 car trains, 125mph running, billions spent on upgrading the West Coast etc, proved not to be enough. You need a blank canvas and a large cheque book.

 

£32bn may also (most likely in fact) include a forecast of inflation/GBP value. £32bn in today's money will be significantly less in 2020/2025 when these lines will be operating.

 

People will probably find conventional intercity rail journeys become cheaper as a result of a new "premium" service.

 

I suspect that we will also see more interesting rail journeys like Manchester-Paris or Leeds to Amsterdam via the High Speed lines. As a result, perhaps short haul flights, and subsequent green house emissions can be reduced.

[sailor sam]

I think we would be very naive to think that the figure of £32b will be the actual cost of this. I think we (the inventors of railways) have been very backwards in coming forwards over the last 50 or so years in closing most of the network rather than upgrading. In a lot of other countries, the railways has evolved into some really impressive systems, including HS ones. So here we are, talking about building a new line capable of taking 250mph trains. Why? Our small country is less than 1000 miles in length. Most people who need to travel quickly within it can travel by air. I cannot imagine that there will be sufficient demand to provide a capacity of say 400 passengers who need to travel from A to B an hour faster than what we already have.

 

We were told the Channel Tunnel would bring us wealth and prosperity and has that yet paid for itself? Sorry but you won't sell it to me.

[Grotesque]

Vive HS2, another excellent opportunity to force Guardian -reading bleeding-hearts to move into converted windmills even further out in the sticks and keep the PFI-profiteering PWC highwaymen in turkey for the next twenty Christmasses...

[Andrew-P]

Definitely FOR

 

The railways are so busy these days that HS2 will release much needed capacity on both the East and West Coast lines.

 

It will also provide construction jobs and hopefully train manufacturing jobs as well