HS2

[lmsforever]

Went past works at Waddesdon Cross Rds today and progress being made on new junction for Whitchurch Rd A41 and new bypass  ,the road from Whitchurch going up to the junction has acquired kerbs.   The junction  is difficult to see because of piles of earth everywhere but things might improve soon I hope.

[jamie92208]

A new Youtube video. The segments for the eastern end of the Northolt tunnels are to be manufactured in Hartlepool then brought by train to the TBM.

I presume that the wilgo to the Logistics hub at Willesden then to Old Oak.  

 

Jamie

[KeithMacdonald]

21 hours ago, Mark Saunders said:

How is this for double standards, UK government to spend money on rail in Turkey!

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-announces-680m-for-new-high-speed-electric-railway-in-turkey#:~:text=Press release-,UK announces £680m for new high-speed electric railway

 

No, the UK government is not "spending" £680m. It's providing a loan guarantee, with strings attached.

 

Quote

UKEF’s backing – which has been given on the condition that UK exporters supply to the project

 

As usual, the money for the loan does not exist until the loan is made, then the money is created. It's also insured against risk of default.

 

Quote

UKEF worked in partnership with J.P. Morgan, ING Bank and BNP Paribas, who provided the loan, as well as SACE and OeKB – the Italian and Austrian export credit agencies providing reinsurance – to secure this landmark deal for Turkish rail infrastructure.

 

This is business-as-usual, to get business for British firms around the world.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-export-finance

[woodenhead]

I think I see where HS2 went wrong..

 

[Arun Sharma]

Thank you for that  Woodenhead - It made my day!

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, KeithMacdonald said:

 

No, the UK government is not "spending" £680m. It's providing a loan guarantee, with strings attached.

 

 

As usual, the money for the loan does not exist until the loan is made, then the money is created. It's also insured against risk of default.

 

 

This is business-as-usual, to get business for British firms around the world.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-export-finance

Years ago I was involved in a project in Turkey that was funded jointly by the Turkish, Canadian and UK governments.

[jamie92208]

This little video popped up on Youtube.  I found it quite interesting as it actually shows Dominique in use rather than the more common weekend ones where nothing is moving. 

Jamie

[RJS1977]

On 25/07/2023 at 17:44, KeithMacdonald said:

 

This is business-as-usual, to get business for British firms around the world.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-export-finance

 

But surely they could get business for Britsh firms by getting on and getting HS2 completed....

[melmerby]

On 26/07/2023 at 10:38, jamie92208 said:

This little video popped up on Youtube.  I found it quite interesting as it actually shows Dominique in use rather than the more common weekend ones where nothing is moving. 

Jamie

Why is the videographer hiding in the bushes?

Is photographing HS 2 now an illegal pursuit😁

[phil-b259]

1 hour ago, RJS1977 said:

 

But surely they could get business for Britsh firms by getting on and getting HS2 completed....

Not quite the same thing - and it’s mainly due to how the finances are classified.

 

I’m no financial gru but at several points over the past 7 decades it has been necessary to prioritise things which generate revenue from overseas rather than promote domestic projects.

 

Consequently when you consider the financial benefits that could accrue from this Turkish project (including balance of trade figures etc) it could actually generate a grater financial return that the building of HS2 does.

 

 

[Ron Ron Ron]

Lichfield - WCML.....

 

 

 

 

 

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[Ian Hargrave]

23 minutes ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

Lichfield - WCML.....

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

[Ian Hargrave]

Nothing like rubbing salt in the wound. Apart from the nearby 40mph restriction on the A38 which is just out of shot,

access to Lichfield southbound is closed until at least October. Weekend closure on a section of the M42 (bridge construction) weeks ago caused traffic mayhem on the local road system for miles. Then whether you like it or not,the work has/is scarring major tracts of the landscape. I know it has to be done,but this on a scale that probably none of us has ever seen..Certainly acres of land are being ripped away. Bear in mind that HS2 actually is 2 lines in this neck of the woods…in and then out of Birmingham.  See this and you cannot but be awestruck 

[Ron Ron Ron]

10 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

........whether you like it or not,the work has/is scarring major tracts of the landscape. I know it has to be done,but this on a scale that probably none of us has ever seen..Certainly acres of land are being ripped away..................

 

The landscape will be restored, being re-profiled and landscaped as necessary.

In many places, the inclusion of environmental mitigation measures and new natural habitats, will actually provide an enhancement, compared with what was there before. 

It's worth noting, that a significant proportion of the budget  is being spent on blending the new line into the landscape, or hiding it as much as possible.

The viaducts and flyovers around the Delta Junction and eastern leg junction, will obviously be more prominent though.

 

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[Ron Ron Ron]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[jamie92208]

Just to illustrate the point made above.   This is the latest LGV in France that was completed and opened down to Bordeaux in July 2017.   This is what one section near our house looked like only 2 months later.  

and with a train.

 

I crossed it this morning and it has blended in even more.

 

Jamie

[Pete the Elaner]

1 hour ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Nothing like rubbing salt in the wound. Apart from the nearby 40mph restriction on the A38 which is just out of shot,

access to Lichfield southbound is closed until at least October. Weekend closure on a section of the M42 (bridge construction) weeks ago caused traffic mayhem on the local road system for miles. Then whether you like it or not,the work has/is scarring major tracts of the landscape. I know it has to be done,but this on a scale that probably none of us has ever seen..Certainly acres of land are being ripped away. Bear in mind that HS2 actually is 2 lines in this neck of the woods…in and then out of Birmingham.  See this and you cannot but be awestruck 

 

Motorways changed the landscape a lot more than HS2 will. There are a lot more of them too.

[Ian Hargrave]

1 hour ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

 

The landscape will be restored, being re-profiled and landscaped as necessary.

In many places, the inclusion of environmental mitigation measures and new natural habitats, will actually provide an enhancement, compared with what was there before. 

It's worth noting, that a significant proportion of the budget  is being spent on blending the new line into the landscape, or hiding it as much as possible.

The viaducts and flyovers around the Delta Junction and eastern leg junction, will obviously be more prominent though.

 

.

I am well aware of that noble prediction as are most ( but not all )forum members.But ask yourself,how many of the general public are of the same mindset  ?  It simply doesn’t go down well. Remember also that a significant percentage of the current population ( including me obviously) won’t live to see it complete and perhaps can be deemed to be justifiably aggrieved as what they see as desecration of a landscape . I count myself fortunate in that I avoid …just…living within sight and sound. It’s with me each time I drive into Lichfield via a diversion,catch a train into New Street or down the Trent Valley to Euston or Crewe  or drive along the M42 ( recently on Tuesday).In many ways I travel through a lunar landscape . Convincing people that the WCML is over capacity and that we need HS2 is going to be a major act of faith. 

 

[Pete the Elaner]

1 minute ago, Ian Hargrave said:

I am well aware of that noble prediction as are most ( but not all )forum members.But ask yourself,how many of the general public are of the same mindset  ?  It simply doesn’t go down well. Remember also that a significant percentage of the current population ( including me obviously) won’t live to see it complete and perhaps can be deemed to be justifiably aggrieved as what they see as desecration of a landscape . I count myself fortunate in that I avoid …just…living within sight and sound. It’s with me each time I drive into Lichfield via a diversion,catch a train into New Street or down the Trent Valley to Euston or Crewe  or drive along the M42 ( recently on Tuesday).In many ways I travel through a lunar landscape . Convincing people that the WCML is over capacity and that we need HS2 is going to be a major act of faith. 

 

 

Not considering the future is a selfish attitude. I am one of the few who do not have children but I still care for those who will still be around when I am gone.

I will again use our motorways as a comparison:

Many who planned & built them could well have argued the same "They may not be needed in my lifetime so why bother?" The first section of M1 was very lightly used when it opened in 1959 so it could be argued that it was unnecessary at the time. That was 64 years ago. Look at it now. The same section has been widened & it still badly overloaded.

Where would we be today without the motorway network? Where will we be in 50 years time if we condemn those of the future to cope with the same transport system we have today? You cannot build a new railway in 5 minutes so work needs to start well ahead of when it will be needed.

The only people who will argue that the WCML is not over capacity are those who do not use it regularly.

[Rugd1022]

Whether people will be convinced or not does not change the fact that the WCML is over capacity and HS2 will resolve that particular problem. Once it's finished it will blend in to its surroundings, just as most man made things do given time, just as most roads, major or minor have. Just as the houses / flats / we live in do, to an extent. The land my house was built on was once just a field the local landowner used to keep horses in, but then one day it wasn't and hey presto, I have somewhere to live, as will the next person to occupy it when I'm dead and gone! In a hundred years time someone might read something somewhere about those apposed to HS2 and wonder why they were so against it, but they will have a fantastic piece of railway to use, just as you or I do when we want to catch a train into New St or down the Trent Valley to London... hundreds of thousands of people probably objected to the 'Premier Line' being built almost two hundred years ago, but here we are, able use it whenever we feel the need to to... 😉

 

I drive on the southern half of the WCML every week and see the capacity issue with my own eyes, more paths with consistent speeds are needed, the best way to accomplish this is to take the higher speed traffic away, leaving the remaining traffic to run at similar speeds with better timing margins for all concerned. The fact that some people might not live to see it happen is neither here nor there really - we all have to go sometime and life goes on without us. My paternal grandfather retired from the railway just as the WCML was being electrified, he died very soon after and never saw it completed. All of my grandparents are long gone, as are my parents, they lived through all kinds of changes, my great maternal grandfather and two of his brothers started their railway careers at the tail end of the broad gauge era and all died before colour TV came along, that's just life... we're all just passing through when it comes down to it, but it's what we leave behind for future generations that matters. It isn't all about the here and now.

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Ian Hargrave said:

I am well aware of that noble prediction as are most ( but not all )forum members.But ask yourself,how many of the general public are of the same mindset  ?  It simply doesn’t go down well. Remember also that a significant percentage of the current population ( including me obviously) won’t live to see it complete and perhaps can be deemed to be justifiably aggrieved as what they see as desecration of a landscape . I count myself fortunate in that I avoid …just…living within sight and sound. It’s with me each time I drive into Lichfield via a diversion,catch a train into New Street or down the Trent Valley to Euston or Crewe  or drive along the M42 ( recently on Tuesday).In many ways I travel through a lunar landscape . Convincing people that the WCML is over capacity and that we need HS2 is going to be a major act of faith. 

 

I'm far more aggrieved by umpteen house being built ion our part of the worldwhere local authority housing lists are almost empty and there are plenty of houses for sale.  Quite why fields have to dug up for housing which isn't needed by local people (or any people within 20-30 miles is beyind my understanding while local surgery lists are full as are schools in the area and Thames Water is pumping raw swage into the river.

 

Compared with all that lot HS2 is useful  and money (albeit too much too slowly) wel spent.

Edited July 28, 2023 by The Stationmaster

[locoholic]

The BBC is reporting that the Infrastructure and Projects Authority says of HS2, "Successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable".

 

What on Earth does this mean? What does an unsuccessful delivery of HS2 look like?! Horse drawn trains from Old Oak Common to Brackley?

[AY Mod]

2 minutes ago, locoholic said:

What on Earth does this mean?

 

The beginning of the end.

[Richard E]

Link to the BBC news article - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66352286

[martin_wynne]

45 minutes ago, locoholic said:

What on Earth does this mean?

 

Achievable HS2 making good progress: