PowerSwitch

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 05 Dec 2011, 10:09

But the EU disagrees, there must be a high speed rail link connecting all EU regions, so, regardless of cost, environmental impact or sense, it shall be built.
Or at least, until the EU blowsn up, the government will play about with the idea of building one.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 05 Dec 2011, 11:27

DominicJ wrote:But the EU disagrees, there must be a high speed rail link connecting all EU regions, so, regardless of cost, environmental impact or sense, it shall be built.
Or at least, until the EU blowsn up, the government will play about with the idea of building one.

Not that I want it, but isn't Wales an EU region, as there's no plan for us to have one.

My MP posted on Facebook "The 500m for the HS2 tunnel in cheryl gillans constituency is double the welsh allocation of tuesdays investment programme.". There's already a railway between London and Birmingham, but no direct rail connection between North and Mid Wales and its capital.

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 05 Dec 2011, 11:45

JohnB
I assume there will eventualy be plans to run it from Birmingham to somewhere in wales, possibly.
There arent currently plans to send to the Glasgow either, but they'll follow.

Last serious view I read was Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow.

Isnt there a Brimingham/Aberyswyth line?
Utterly pointless upgrading it to HS2, but then, the entire thing is utterly pointless....

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 05 Dec 2011, 11:48

DominicJ wrote: Isnt there a Brimingham/Aberyswyth line?

I think yup it goes through Shrewsbury and Mach (of CAT fame). It's mindbogglingly s....l....o....w, though

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 05 Dec 2011, 12:10

Birmingham isn't in Wales! Getting from say Aberystwth to Cardiff via England takes rather longer than the 5 minutes, or whatever, it will take to get from Birmingham to London on HS2.

The point is that billions are being spent on already relatively prosperous parts of the UK, and the fringes are ignored.

DominicJ · Post by **DominicJ** » 05 Dec 2011, 12:13

John B
But a HS2 spur from Birmingham to Welshpool would link wales to the european high speed rail network.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 05 Dec 2011, 13:27

I wrote:Fortunately spending on HS2 does not begin in earnest until the UK economy is back in strong growth.

Whoops, got that wrong.

see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... uango.html

HS2 sparks a jobs boom - for a quango
Ministers always said their controversial HS2 rail project would trigger a jobs boom and it certainly has for the Whitehall quango overseeing the £32bn scheme.

Nice to see some good comments after the article.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 05 Dec 2011, 16:07

biffvernon wrote:Fortunately spending on HS2 does not begin in earnest until the UK economy is back in strong growth.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 08 Apr 2012, 08:42

And furthermore:

Up to 50,000 bodies will need to be exhumed to make way for the new high speed rail line from London to Birmingham

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -link.html

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 10 Apr 2012, 12:01

So no "this will be built over my dead body" then?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 05 May 2012, 23:13

biffvernon wrote:And whatever the arguments in favour and against, it won't get built 'cos the capital is not there.

And lo and behold:

Mr Cameron will start his fightback this week with the Queen’s Speech.
The Sunday Telegraph has established it will:
...
not include a Bill on HS2, which is hugely unpopular with backbenchers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... y-war.html

Wrong reason but the result is the same.

mobbsey · Post by **mobbsey** » 06 May 2012, 00:27

biffvernon wrote:
Mr Cameron will start his fightback this week with the Queen’s Speech. The Sunday Telegraph has established it will:
... not include a Bill on HS2, which is hugely unpopular with backbenchers.

Well, if Tory squabbles stop ecologically damaging projects from going ahead, then it must mean that they might have a use after all!

The only concern will be what other less desirable "red meat" Cameron will throw to his more right wing backbenchers to placate them?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 11 May 2012, 09:02

HS2 quango creates jobs worth £803k

Four jobs on salaries of more than £97,000 a year each are being created at the taxpayer funded quango behind a planned £32 billion high-speed rail line.

The jobs are among 11 new posts with salaries totalling £803,000 a year being created by HS2 Ltd, set up by the former Labour government to develop the case for the line, which passes close to Lichfield and will see two new stations built in Birmingham by 2026.

Critics today branded the roles, which include a chief spin doctor, unnecessary and said the government should be using its own Department for Transport staff.

HS2 Ltd is recruiting a head of public affairs, a head of land and property, a chief information officer and a general counsel and company secretary, all on £97,398 plus benefits.

Another three new jobs are on £75,400 plus benefits. They are a head of cost and investment planning, a head of human resources and a head of contracts and procurement. A senior contracts manager will get £49,511 and a procurement manager will be on £43,949.

There will also be an IT programme manager on £58,687 and a project management office analyst on £35,000.

The public affairs chief will be responsible for an army of 60 staff.

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2012 ... z1uXurvF7t[/quote]

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 11 May 2012, 17:42

It's more likely that the Cardiff to Paddington line would be upgraded, thus connecting the capital cities of the two nations, or should I say the Regional Capitals.

The government will probably leave the HS2 to the next government to implement and take the blame. They can't put the blame for anything on Europe, even if it belongs there, because that might cause the Sacred European Project to become unpopular, and that is not allowed. The Labour/Lib Coalition will then take the blame and the Tories, if they are still in power in those constituencies, can then have a go at Labour for spending too much money on a dinosaur project.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 20 May 2012, 07:37

Corruption at HS2

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... -deal.html

Robert Watts wrote:The quango set up to oversee the controversial HS2 rail project has awarded a multi-million pound contract to Balfour Beatty, a business in which two of its directors own shares.

Andy Friend, 59, who has served on the board of HS2 for three years, still works for Balfour Beatty, the engineering firm that has won a host of public sector contracts in recent years. Another HS2 director, Mike Welton, 65, previously served as the company’s chief executive.
Mr Friend and Mr Welton both own thousands of shares in Balfour Beatty. With trading at 259.30p, Mr Friend’s 7,500 shares have a current value of £19,447, and Mr Welton’s stake of 40,000-45,000 is worth £103,720-£116,685.
Five days ago, Balfour Beatty announced that one of its subsidiaries, Parsons Brinckerhoff, had won two contracts worth £8 million to design rail systems for the £33 billion high speed link between London and the North.