Despite Corona, HS2 given go ahead

[Fambo Number Mive]

It does feel that there will be a lot less need for increased capacity between London and Birmingham than before the virus. Even if only a fraction of offices offer people the chance to work from home for some or all of their working week, I imagine there will be a lot less in-person meetings taking place in the next few years between regional offices in London and Birmingham.

The government has given formal approval for construction work on the HS2 rail project to begin despite lockdown measures.

Construction firms involved in phase one of the high-speed rail project will need to follow social distancing rules.

HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson said: "We cannot delay work on our long-term plan to level up the country."...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52293055

We already have too many non-essential workers being made to risk their lives by going out to work, and now they want more? And who is going to check that bosses are allowing workers to follow these rules?

I think it would be better to scrap HS2 phase 1 but I think, given how bad the railways are in much of the North, HS2 phase 2 might have more value.

I live in the South but my understanding is a lot of the issues are around Northern Rail, unreliable trains and there not being enough carriages. Is this correct?

I don't know how much HS2 phase 2 would solve this but it might attract more businesses to the North and remove firms from London reducing housing costs in the London commuter belt and re balancing population density.

[GMTV]

Intent on wasting another few tens of billions before it's finally canned.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Intent on wasting another few tens of billions before it's finally canned.

Props up the construction industry though dunnit.

[Fambo Number Mive]

How many offices have staff in Birmingham and London and need to have regular in person meetings with each other anyway? The virus has made more people get used to using videoconferencing software and it would make more sense to do that then get an expensive and slightly faster train from Birmingham to London like they used to.

I reckon, if this is ever built, it will be barely used.

[salr]

I read somewhere that the east-coast mainline is pretty much at full capacity. If the government doesn't build HS2 then you would need to upgrade the bridges/tunnels on that line to take double decker trains to keep up with demand. Honesty don't know if that would be better value for money.

By moving the faster intercity trains to HS2, it frees up capacity on ECML for local/freight services.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I don't object to improvements in rail infrastructure but south east to North West is one direction that (when on time) does not take long. According to a friend you can get from London to Carlisle in less than 2 hours on some routes? Very fast if so.

Yet try to get from somewhere central like Leeds or Birmingham to the West Country or Norfolk, or even along the south coast.

As stated above, capacity is a very big issue. We need to widen tunnels and connect the M62 corridor to real mass transit, not the fucking joke we have now. Quite obviously any major project is built to meet projected future capacity and it takes a long time.

The priorities are rather skew whiff and it does make you wonder if this is partly to mitigate for the colossally expensive property market in the south, or perhaps make it even worse by tempting people to move out and flog their 2 bed semi for millions to some accountancy firm.

[Sebastian Cobb]

How many offices have staff in Birmingham and London and need to have regular in person meetings with each other anyway? The virus has made more people get used to using videoconferencing software and it would make more sense to do that then get an expensive and slightly faster train from Birmingham to London like they used to.

I reckon, if this is ever built, it will be barely used.

This isn't the first time people have predicted videoconfrencing will make offices and meetings obsolete.

When I started in tech over 10 years ago the big tech company I worked for were in the process of 're-evaluating' their decision to slash loads of office space and move to 'smart working' along with sending most of the technical roles offshore.

There's also the fact people are egomaniacs and actually think their presence is needed.

[BlodwynPig]

London to Carlisle in 2 hours, you are having a laugh.

[Fambo Number Mive]

I read somewhere that the east-coast mainline is pretty much at full capacity. If the government doesn't build HS2 then you would need to upgrade the bridges/tunnels on that line to take double decker trains to keep up with demand. Honesty don't know if that would be better value for money.

By moving the faster intercity trains to HS2, it frees up capacity on ECML for local/freight services.

Will the west coast mainline still be at capacity after Coronavirus though? Are many people commuting from Birmingham to London and vice versa from home to work or for meetings with different offices?

I do wonder what percentage of the West Coast Mainline passengers were travelling from Birmingham to London or the other way round.

[Sebastian Cobb]

London to Carlisle in 2 hours

[Fambo Number Mive]

I guess to a certain extend, the proof of the HS2 pudding will be in the eating. I do hope that if phase 1 doesn't deliver what is needed it doesn't stop phase 2 going ahead.

[BlodwynPig]

So much faith, Fambo

[MojoJojo]

Will the west coast mainline still be at capacity after Coronavirus though? Are many people commuting from Birmingham to London and vice versa from home to work or for meetings with different offices?

I do wonder what percentage of the West Coast Mainline passengers were travelling from Birmingham to London or the other way round.

I'm pretty sure those numbers have been looked at, and it seems a bit early to think that people are going to stop travelling. Anyway, a large part of the idea is that with passengers moved to HS2, the old west coast mainline can carry freight (freight and passenger trains do not mix well on the same line). It's also going to be making use of a lot of the workers who were trained up for Crossrail.

I think there are lots of reasons for a new passenger route, but what's really not clear to me is the high speed part. I've not seen a comparison of how much a non-highspeed version would cost.

[Dewt]

I'm pretty sure those numbers have been looked at, and it seems a bit early to think that people are going to stop travelling.

This constitutes people's life ambitions and meal tickets, they're not going to say "oh figures aren't looking good, let's call it off". They just want it built