Vocal Voices

The I paper have uncovered the latest problem with HS2.

The trains are too high for some platforms. There is a big gap between the doors and the platform in some stations. Which means that steps will have to be used, making it difficult for wheelchair users or people with limited mobility.

This is going to cost £200 million to fix!!

I've got to ask, who is running this project? A man Mark Thurston was, and was getting £676,000 (£40,000 of which was a bonus!) but he left in September last year. HS2's Chief Financial Officer Alan Foster was paid £513,000 pa. This is not acceptable. People are getting megabucks and producing a mess.

The last I heard between Manchester and Birmingham HS2 won't be high speed anyway - it will use existing track. Thereby taking away the "it's providing greater capacity" argument.

HS2 has become an embarrassing white elephant, and an extremely expensive one at that.
Someone needs to gather their courage and cancel the whole farce right now, but they won't.

I find it shocking that people who are supposed to manage expensive projects on behalf of the taxpaper seem to be totally incompetant. Another example of mismanagement was the purchase of protective clothing during Covid. Millions was spent on useless protective clothing that had to be destroyed because it was not fit for purpose. Grants were handed out at the drop of a hat with no checks in place and no effort has been made to recover money from bogus applications.

cromwell wrote:The last I heard between Manchester and Birmingham HS2 won't be high speed anyway - it will use existing track.

And that's exactly the problem, Crommers. The HS2 trains are manufactured to a specification that envisaged them using dedicated stations and dedicated platforms, like Old Oak Common or the (now cancelled, of course) East Midlands station at Toton on the route to be built to Leeds. It was never envisaged they'd have to use existing platforms in existing stations like Crewe.

So once the Tory Government scrapped all the new lines north of Birmingham and said any trains to Manchester / Leeds / beyond (they are apparently talking about running HS2 trains up to Scotland on the West Coast Main Line, now) would have to use existing lines - bang, you've got a problem!

There is some vague speculation that Starmer might resurrect HS2a and HS2b as part of the "Great Infracstructure Leap Forward", but it's nothing more than chatter, they can't afford it, unless Rachel Reeves decides to strip us of all our State Pensions next ....

I think I saw somewhere that the new HS2 trains have got another (unrelated) defect and are going to have to be re-engineered anyway, but I can't find where I read it now!

Don't worry about it this super New government will find a new hiding place for everything
Under the carpet

I alway said that HSX was a waste of time and money on an island where six of its major cities are only about 100 miles apart, and four of them are only 40 miles between them. The only line worth it, distance wise, would be one from London to Scotland with spurs to Edinburgh and Glasgow, however, passenger numbers would never support it.

We would always have been better off upgrading the existing main lines with extra track in strategic places to allow non (or fewer)-stopping trains to 'overtake' the day-to-day rolling stock.

A few East / West lines wouldn't have gone amiss either.

Our trainspennine are always on strike actually they are today it's no electric I think

East to West investment is most definitely needed, Frank - a lot of our track over here isn't even electrified

Re East / West rail. Two of England's / UK's biggest container ports, imports and exports, Harwich and Felixstowe, are on the Suffolk coast. Rail links to the rest of the country are virtually nil - it's all road.

But we did / do need to get lawyers, accountants, consultants, slebs, artistes, bankers and tycoons etc. to and from London on fast trains because they are so important.

I give up.

Kaz wrote:East to West investment is most definitely needed, Frank - a lot of our track over here isn't even electrified

The rail line north to Inverness from Perth is single track with sidings. You are in the lead and always have been....

Suff wrote:The rail line north to Inverness from Perth is single track with sidings. You are in the lead and always have been....

On the other hand it is one of the most scenic rail lines in Great Britain. It is probably the best couple of hours you can spend on a train and all for about a tenner.